Echinoderms of the Pliocene Bowden shell bed, southeast Jamaica

The echinoderm fauna of the late Pliocene Bowden shell bed of southeast Jamaica is more diverse than that of any coeval unit in the Caribbean. The following echinoderm taxa have been identified from the Bowden shell bed: goniasterid or astropectinid asteroid sp. indet., ophiuroid sp. indet., and the echinoids Eucidaris madrugensis (Sánchez Roig, 1949), diadematid sp. indet., Arbacia sp., Echinometra sp., Tripneustes sp., Clypeaster cf. carrizoensis Kew, 1914, scutelline sp. indet. and spatangoid sp. indet. Adult echinoids are invariably preserved as fragments; juvenile tests may have survived because of their low volume to surface area ratio, making them less prone to mechanical collapse. At the ordinal level, Eucidaris – diadematoid – Echinometra – arbaciid – toxopneustid – Clypeaster – scutelline – spatangoid echinoid faunas seem to have been the norm in the Caribbean during the Pliocene. Echinoids across the Pliocene-Pleistocene interval in the Caribbean region may follow a similar pattern of faunal turnover to that of benthic molluscs.