Fig. 1: The eleutherozoic blastoid Dissimiloblastus inequalis Bohatý et al., 2024, possibly indicating the occurrence of brachiolar MCT in the rigid state.
From: Feeding postures as indicators of mutable collagenous tissue in extinct echinoderms
a Specimen with preserved theca and brachioles from Wirtenbach, Germany. The longer and thinner adoral brachioles were arrayed in rigid flattened filtration fan. They give the appearance of having been in a rigid state possibly indicating the presence of MCT in the stiffened state (orange arrowheads with asterisks). The shorter and wider aboral brachioles were recurved and arrayed in a snowshoe configuration, indicating MCT in the stiffened state (red arrowheads with asterisks). b Detail view of the theca, showing the recurved brachioles. Scale bars: a = 7.5 mm, b = 5.0 mm. See Supplementary Appendix for specimen repository and details of the stratigraphy and locality.
