Villebrunaster
Villebrunaster is an extinct genus of starfish-like animal belonging to Asterozoa that lived around 480 million years ago during Early Ordovician Period in modern-day southern France and Morocco. As of 2022, it contains two species, namely V. thorali and V. fezouataensis. V. thorali was described in 1951 and V. fezouataensis was described in 2021. Villebrunaster represents one of the oldest members of asterozoans, and perhaps, according to a description in 2021, the earliest divergent stem-group (ancestral members) of Asterozoa.
| Villebrunaster Temporal range: Early Ordovician, ~ | |
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| Fossil of V. thorali | |
| Fossil holotype of V. fezouataensis | |
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| Family: | †Villebrunasteridae Fell, 1963 |
| Genus: | †Villebrunaster Spencer, 1951 |
| Type species | |
| †Villebrunaster thorali Spencer, 1951 | |
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