A diverse crinoid fauna (Echinodermata, Crinoidea) from the Lower Eocene of the Gulf of Languedoc (Corbières, Aude, southern France) Author Roux, Michel Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, UMR 7205 ISYEB MNHN-CNRS-UPMC-EPHE, Département Systématique et Évolution, CP 51, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France Author Martinez, Alain Chemin de Saint Estève, 11200 Lézignan-Corbières. France Author Vizcaïno, Daniel 7 rue J. - B. Chardin Maquens, 11000 Carcassonne, France text Zootaxa 2021 2021-04-19 4963 2 201 242 journal article 7139 10.11646/zootaxa.4963.2.1 049b6936-13d8-42d6-9468-2019ddf78d14 1175-5326 4700704 ACEC045B-AEE7-43FB-A074-D2AD6CB40F1D ? Democrinus elongatus ( Roux, 1978c ) Fig. 8G–I Synonymy. Conocrinus elongatus Roux, 1978c: 265–266 , fig. 1A; Roux et al . 2019: 66 , 77; Bourgueticrinus sp. Zamora et al . 2018: 788 , 791, fig. 10G;? Democrinus elongatus Roux et al . 2019: 67 , fig. 8G–J. Type material. The holotype ( UCBL-FSL 19210 A) is from the Bartonian at Biarritz ( Côte des Basques , Villa Marbella ) . Material examined. 4 aboral cups from Lavade; specimen A ( MNHN .F. A82010 ) is Fig. 8G–I , the other three are in the Martinez Collection. Locality. Lavade near Fontcouverte (middle Ilerdian, NP11). Description. Main variations in quantitative characters of aboral cups given in Table 13 . Very elongated aboral cup, with H/D>3.1, except in specimen B, maximum D in upper third, progressive variation of D along height in smallest specimen ( Fig. 8G ), very weak in others; adoral face with wide, pentagonal central cavity (Dd/Dr ~0.40), muscular areas more developed than ligament areas, discrete interradial crest with marked bending of inner side of radials ( Fig. 8H–I ), stalk insertion occupying aboral face. Specimen C with additional circle of plates (H 1.25 mm ) prolonging basals, likely resulting from regeneration. TABLE 13. Variations in the main quantitative characters of Lavade aboral cups attributed to? Democrinus elongatus . Dp: diameter of the stalk insertion, Wr: width of the articular facet distal to a radial; for other abbreviations see Fig. 2. Dc used as growth index. Values in mm, except for ratios.

Specimen	Hc	Dc	Dr	Dp	Dd	Wr	Hc/Dc	Dr/Dc	Dp/Dc	Dd/Dr
A	5.42	1.72	1.39	0.72	0.56	0.70	3.15	0.81	0.42	0.40
B	4.25	1.84	1.64	1.27	0.65	0.80	2.31	0.89	0.69	0.40
C	8.90	2.86	2.45	2.00	0.97	1.21	3.11	0.86	0.70	0.40
D	11.17	3.03	2.15	1.50	0.90	0.95	3.69	0.71	0.50	0.42

Remarks. Distal face of aboral cup of specimens here attributed to? Democrinus elongatus show same characters as those from Bartonian of Biarritz ( Roux et al . 2019 : fig. 8G–J). It can be distinguished from Pseudoconocrinus doncieuxi suboblongus n. subsp. by radial circlet with adoral face having muscular areas more developed than ligament areas and interradial bending of the lateral edges of muscular fossae, absence of conspicuous interradial crests and wide, pentagonal to slightly star-shaped central cavity as observed in extant Democrinus ( Roux et al . 2019 ) . Lacking these characters, these two species cannot be separated when aboral cups are very elongated. Mesistele columnals from Lavade with no mid-height swelling and with H/D ~1.6 ( Fig. 13 ) could belong to this species. Similarly, rare distal columnals from the Tuilerie de Fontcouverte show an extension of ligament depressions on either side of the fulcral crest ( Fig. 8E ) as observed in some extant species of Democrinus ( Roux 1977 ) ; but no aboral cup of? D. elongatus has ever been identified at this site despite the abundance of material. Excess basals due to regeneration anomaly, as observed in specimen C, are frequent in extant Democrinus japonicus ( Gislén, 1927 ) . The aboral cup of? D. elongatus is easily distinguished from that of D. londinensis ( Forbes, 1852 ) , a Ypresian species from the London Clay whose sutures between plates are conspicuous and Hc/Dc <1.20 ( Rasmussen 1972 ). Zamora et al . (2018) attributed to Bourgueticrinus sp. an elongated aboral cup from the middle Ilerdian of Puebla de Roda (Graus-Tremp basin, Spain ). The distal face of this cup has the typical characters of? Democrinus elongatus , which attests to the presence of this species in the south Pyrenean Ilerdian basin. Klikushin (1982) referred to a fragment of an aboral cup from the Upper Eocene of Crimea as “ Conocrinus ” cf. elongatus , but failed to present any conclusive character to confirm such an attribution. Occurrence. Early Ypresian (Ilerdian) of the French-Spanish Pyrenean basin (gulfs of Languedoc and of Graus-Tremp); Bartonian of Biarritz ( Côte des Basques, Villa Marbella).