Special Papers in Palaeontology, Number 85, The Phylogeny of Post-Palaeozoic Asteroidea (Echinodermata, Neoasteroidea)

The evolutionary relationships between different genera of asteroid echinoderms (starfish) have been interpreted by study of the skeletal morphologies and homologies of 24 extant taxa.  It appears that the initial diversification of the neoasteroids took place in the Triassic or earlier, whereas the wide fossil diversity of this essentially modern fauna only became apparent in the Jurassic when extensive marine sediments appeared in the stratigraphic record.