Crinoids Gallery

Crinoids flourished during the Paleozoic Era and peaked during the Mississippian Subperiod. Mississippian rocks crop out only in the extreme southeast corner of Kansas, but crinoid fossils are common in Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks in the eastern part of the state.
Crinoid stem fragments

Crinoid Stem Fragments

Stem fragments from assorted Pennsylvanian crinoids show some of the variation in the fossils found in Kansas rocks.

Individual crinoid stem pieces

Crinoid Stem Pieces

Individual stem pieces are common fossils in Kansas rocks. These samples of different Pennsylvanian crinoid species are from the Spring Branch Limestone Member, Lecompton Limestone, Greenwood County.

Uintacrinus socialis

Uintacrinus Socialis

Uintacrinus socialis is a stemless crinoid that lived in the shallow Cretaceous seas that covered much of North America roughly 70 million years ago. These specimens were collected from the Niobrara Chalk, Gove County.