A New Species of Rhyncholampas (Echinoidae: Cassidulidae) from the Chipola Formation: The First Confirmed Member of the Genus from the Miocene of the Southeastern U.S.A. and the Caribbean

Abstract

The cosmopolitan echinoid genus Rhyncholampas is found in deposits ranging from the Paleocene to the Recent. In the southeastern United States and the Caribbean, the genus is a common constituent of Eocene, Oligocene and PlioPleistocene strata. Three different species of Rhyncholampas have been reported from "Miocene" units in Florida, North and South Carolina, and Cuba over the last seventy years. However, no verifiable records of the genus as occurring in the Miocene of the southeastern United States or the Caribbean can be substantiated.