Description

Moroccodiscus smithi Reich et al., 2017
Ordovician
Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco

Huge 51mm cyclocystoid in 76mm concretion.

Echinoderm.

Moroccodiscus is a genus of cyclocystoid that lived during the Ordovician Period.  It is the first of the group known from Africa – once part of the Paleozoic continent of Gondwana.

Cyclocystoids constitute a class of flattened, disc-shaped echinoderms that are rarely-found complete and well-preserved. This species is only known from a few specimens and as such is extremely rare.