A fore-reef echinoid fauna from the Pleistocene of Barbados

Pleistocene raised reefs cover 90 percent of the surface of Barbados, yet t hey have yielded only rare fossil echinoids. The most diverse echinoid faun a from the island comes from the base of the Middle Coral Rock (probably mi ddle Pleistocene) at Skeete's Bay, Whitehaven, parish of St. Philip, from a n interval interpreted as a deeper water (perhaps +/-100 m) fore-reef depos it. Echinoids from this locality include the cidaroids Stylocidaris affinis (Philippi) and Cidaris (Tretocidaris) bartletti (A. Agassiz); the toxopneu stid Lytechinus sp. cf. L. variegatus (Lamarck); the cassiduloid Echinolamp as depressa? Gray; and the clypeasteroid Clypeaster sp. One specimen of L. cf. variegatus is largely encrusted by calcareous algae, suggesting derivat ion by downslope transport from a shallower water setting.