Identificação e distribuição das espécies de Mecaster (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) do cretáceo da bacia de Sergipe-Alagoas, Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

In this work were analyzed the Spatangoids Echinoids of the species Mecaster batnensis (Coquand, 1862), Mecaster fourneli (Agassiz & Desor, 1847) and Mecaster africanus (Coquand, 1862) from the Sergipe sub-basin of the Fundação Paleontológica Phoenix collection. Among the specimens studied, there were found exemplars of the species Mecaster texanus (Roemer, 1849), that were recorded for the first time in the Sergipe Cretaceous. It was observed that the species M. batnensis and M. africanus, distributed from the Cenomanian to the Turonian showed a lower number of pore pars in the ambulacra III when compared to the others Mecaster species in this same interval. This data could indicate that this species lived in lower depths in the sediment, since the podia of those pores would be sparser. On the other hand, M. fourneli and M. texanus distributed between the Turonian and Coniacian showed a higher number of pore pairs in the ambulacra III, what could indicate that these species lived at more profound depths in the sediment and their contacts with the water-sediment interface through the podia were more effective. All the Mecaster species were present at the basin during the Turonian where they had occupied different habitats, M. batnensis and M. africanus on the other hand would search more profound places where they would live borrowed closer to the water-sediment interface and protected from predators. M. fourneli and M. texanus would prefer shallow environments where they would ride from their predadors burrowed deeply in the sediment.