PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Villebrunaster

Somasteroidea - Chinianasteridae

Taxonomy

Villebrunaster was named by Spencer (1951) [Sepkoski's age data: O Aren-l Sepkoski's reference number: 805]. It is not extant. It is the type genus of Villebrunasteridae. It was considered monophyletic by Dean Shackleton (2005).

It was assigned to Villebrunasteridae by Spencer and Wright (1966); to Goniactinida by Sepkoski (2002); to Somasteroidea by Blake (2013); and to Chinianasteridae by Spencer (1951), Owen (1965), Dean Shackleton (2005), Blake and Guensburg (2015) and Blake and Hotchkiss (2022).

Species

V. fezouataensis, V. thorali (syn. Ampullaster ubaghsi)

Synonyms

Ampullaster was named by Fell (1963) [Sepkoski's age data: O Trem-u Sepkoski's reference number: 2]. It is not extant. Its type is Ampullaster ubaghsi.

It was synonymized subjectively with Villebrunaster by Dean Shackleton (2005).

It was assigned to Villebrunasteridae by Fell (1963) and Spencer and Wright (1966); and to Goniactinida by Sepkoski (2002).
Cantabrigiaster was named by Hunter and Ortega-Hernández (2021).

It was synonymized subjectively with Villebrunaster by Blake and Hotchkiss (2022).

It was assigned to Somasteroidea by Hunter and Ortega-Hernández (2021).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1951	Villebrunaster Spencer pp. 93-94
1963	Ampullaster Fell p. 143
1965	Villebrunaster Owen p. 543
1966	Ampullaster Spencer and Wright p. U41
1966	Villebrunaster Spencer and Wright p. U41
2002	Ampullaster Sepkoski
2002	Villebrunaster Sepkoski
2005	Villebrunaster Dean Shackleton p. 64
2013	Villebrunaster Blake p. 363
2015	Villebrunaster Blake and Guensburg p. 472
2021	Cantabrigiaster Hunter and Ortega-Hernández p. 2
2022	Villebrunaster Blake and Hotchkiss p. 29

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
—	Ambulacraria
phylum	Echinodermata

Rank	Name	Author
subphylum	Eleutherozoa
—	Asterozoa	()
class	Somasteroidea	()
family	Chinianasteridae
genus	Villebrunaster

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Villebrunaster Spencer 1951

show all | hide all

†Villebrunaster fezouataensis Hunter and Ortega-Hernández 2021

†Villebrunaster thorali Spencer 1951

hide

Invalid names: Ampullaster ubaghsi Fell 1963 [synonym]

Invalid names: Ampullaster Fell 1963 [synonym], Cantabrigiaster Hunter and Ortega-Hernández 2021 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
W. K. Spencer 1951	A chinianasterid with small ambulacral basins which served for insertion of the bases of the tube feet arranged, except near mouth, along the sides of a tube which is closed along the mid-radius.
J. Dean Shackleton 2005	Longitudinal articulation between adjacent ambulacrals abutting in oral view; podial basin of restricted size, not occupying total region between adjacent ambulacral transverse bars; straight perradial suture; distal ambulacral podial flange larger than proximal flange; inter-virgal plates.
A. W. Hunter and J. Ortega-Hernández 2021 (Cantabrigiaster)	Somasteroid typified by biserial and offset ambulacrals with thin transverse bar, wide perradial groove, multiple intercon- nected virgal ossicles and aboral carinal region with network of spicule-like ossicles. Adambulacral ossicle series lacking along abaxial body margins (perpendiculars (virgals), struc- tures 90° to the axial ambulacrals).