CLASSIFICATION AND ONTOGENY IN CRINOIDEA - NECESSITY OF A REVISION OFCHARACTERS HIERARCHY

Crinoidea classification poses problems for which satisfactory solutio ns have yet to be found. The distinction between three paleozoic subcl asses (Inadunata, Camerata, Flexibilia) and one post-paleozoic subclas s (Articulata) remains largely artificial. As each recent stalked taxo n was discovered, it was arbitrary attributed to the subclass Articula ta. Efficient keys for the distinction of homologies and convergences are still to be discovered. New answers might be found through a reapp raisal of the skeletal homologies in Echinoderms recently proposed by B. DAVID and R. MOOI (1994 and 1996).