Description

Upper Ordovician
Hefalla Sandstone, Katouna Formation
Elkaid Errami, Rissani, Morocco

200mm slab with at least two 70mm complete plus partials.

Dendrocystites is a genus of Ordovician carpoid that had been known only from North America and Europe until finds were recently reported in Morocco.

Carpoids are an extinct group that most paleontologists consider to be early echinoderms while others have argued they could be primitive chordates.

What is a carpoid? This article explains them (PDF)