The Callovian (Middle Jurassic) crinoids from northern Lithuania

Callovian strata in northern Lithuania (Papile area) have yielded some crinoid taxa [Chariocrinus andreae (DESOR), Balanocrinus berchteni HESS & PUGIN, B. subteres (MUNSTER in GOLDFUSS) and Isocrinus nicoleti (DESOR)], which have not been described from this area. The only form known previously was Balanocrinus pentagonalis (GOLDFUSS). Palaeocomaster jaegeri n. sp. is the first free-living crinoid recorded from the Callovian of eastern Europe. It is characterized by possessing a very low, strongly flattened and narrow radial cavity. A very similar crinoid is known from the Callovian glacially-derived clays exposed in the Lukow region (eastern Poland), which were originally located near the Baltic Sea during the Middle Jurassic. It is considered that the allochthonous Callovian deposits from Poland are facies equivalents of the deposits known from Lithuania. The sole significant exception is the domination of free-moving comatulids (Comatulida) in the sediments known from the Papile region, which may suggest that the Lithuanian sea basin was a little shallower than that located farther west in the Baltic area.