Early carboniferous echinoderms of the Moscow region / Иглокожие раннего каменноугольного периода Московской области

Crinoids are widespread in the Upper Carboniferous deposits of the central European Russia, being an important element of the benthic communities; nevertheless, they are extremely poorly understood. Better studied are the Middle-Late Carboniferous crinoids of this region. Nevertheless, their sampled remains are only partially described; the number of species and genera to be described is approximately the same as the number of previously described taxa; and the discovery of many new forms is not inconceivable. Such poor knowledge of these fossils is attributable to the very limited number of specialists, insufficient state of collections, and poor study of sampled remains. In the former USSR, the last four decades were marked by an enhanced interest to columns of extinct crinoids because they are most widespread amid crinoid remains. Nevertheless, they are almost completely ignored in the last years. Moreover, the researchers who studied columns of Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and, partly, Early Carboniferous crinoids did not pay attention to the Carboniferous deposits of the Russian Platform. <...>