Taxonomic Study of Devonian Crinoid Fauna (Echinodermata: Crinoidea) from Parana Basin, Brazil

• Grant number: 23/13089-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Geological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Antonio de Lima Toledo
• Grantee: Túlio Henrique Custódio de Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto Oceanográfico (IO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The crinoids are a group of emblematic marine invertebrates, represented by sea lilies and featherstars, dating from the Ordovician Period to the present. These animals have shown a great diversity of species throughout the Paleozoic Era, especially during Devonian and Lower Carboniferous periods, with its diversity reduced drastically in the end of Permian, recovering in the Jurassic. In Brazil, its diversity is represented by the abundance of plates and ossicles of crinoids' stalk, cirri and arms collected in many different stratigraphic regions, especially in Ponta Grossa Formation (Devonian) from Parana Basin. However, the major part of the material on Brazilian paleontological collections remains without accurate taxonomic information. In addition, it is undeniable that important paleoecological and paleoenvironmental details have been revealed in characterization studies of the fauna from those biostratigraphic regions. Thus, investigating the faunal composition of crinoids will enable a greater understanding of many different questions of Earth's natural history, for example global and biological changes that have occurred during the geological time. Therefore, the present study aims to further our knowledge of Devonian crinoid diversity from the Parana Basin through a detailed taxonomic study. For this purpose, the material will be analyzed, described, identified, and classified by using modern techniques of crinoid taxonomic analysis, such as computed microtomography. The material to be examined is from several Brazilian paleontological collections.