Parasitic infestation in the crinoid fossil record

PUBLICATION — Zatoń M., Gorzelak P., Berkowski B., Zapalski M.K., Jakubowicz M., Salamon M.A., Kershaw S., Król J.J., Majchrzyk A. 2025. Lower Devonian crinoid pluricolumnals from Morocco are severely infested by sclerobionts: Evidence for a parasitic outbreak on the shelf of northern Gondwana. Gondwana Research, 148: 13–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2025.06.024  

Figure: Michał Zatoń

Early Devonian crinoids from Morocco, inhabiting the northern Gondwana shelf, are described. It was discovered that more than half of their stem fragments were colonized during host life by various epibionts. The described material documents one of the most extensive and severe parasitic infestations known from the crinoid fossil record.