Pentremites godoni
Late Mississippian
Elwren Formation
Grayson County, KY, USA

Very rare 16mm blastoid WITH COLOR PATTERN PRESERVED

Blastoid,

Pentremites is a genus of blastoid that lived across the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods.  It is known from various parts of North America from northern Canada to Arizona and east to Virginia.

Blastoids are an extinct group of echinoderms that appeared during the Ordovician and survived to the end of the Permian, the last members perishing during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most devastating mass extinction in the history of life on earth.

Here’s a specimen that is unusual because it retained its color pattern during and after fossilization. It’s unusual for a Late Cenozoic fossil to still show some of its original color and for an Early Cenozoic fossil to show some color or even some of the pattern, but it’s truly extraordinary for a fossil as ancient as a blastoid to show any of its color pattern.

Also, kids of all ages like blastoids because the name sounds cool.