Encrinus aculeatus von Meyer, 1849 (Crinoidea, Encrinidae) from the Middle Triassic of Val Brembana (Alpi Orobie, Bergamo, Italy)

The Triassic crinoid Encrinus aculeatus is described from a single bedding plane of uncertain Pelsonian or early Illyrian or (less probable) late Ladinian origin from Val Brembana (Alpi Orobie, Bergamo, Italy) based on 36 more or less complete crowns and columns. The specimens represent an obrutional echinoderm lagerstätte of the Muschelkalk type. The individuals are semi-adult and juvenile; adult individuals are lacking. Morphological description and comparison with the holotype and additional material from the Lower Muschelkalk and basal Middle Muschelkalk of Upper Silesia (Poland) prove the assignment to Encrinus aculeatus. However, the species concept of genus Encrinus is critical because several characters are inconsistent. E. aculeatus occurs in the Middle Triassic (Bithynian to early Illyrian, ? early Ladinian) of the western Tethys shelf and Peritethys basins (Southern Alps, Balaton Upland, Germanic Basin). Encrinus aculeatus is regarded ancestral to the Upper Muschelkalk (latest Illyrian) E. liliiformis. Until now, E. liliiformis has not yet been proven with certainty from outside the Germanic Basin; references are based on isolated and undiagnostic material.