Oldest Crinoid Soft Tissue Found, Hidden in a Montreal Drawer

A Montreal museum specimen of the Ordovician crinoid Dendrocrinus simcoensis, about 450 million years old, preserves the second-ever and oldest-known soft tissue in a crinoid fossil: tube feet along the arms mineralized in place. Discovered by University of Oklahoma paleontologists Lena Cole and David Wright after a student spotted pinhead-sized structures, the find suggests the ancient crab-like filter-feeding could differ from modern relatives and provides a crucial data point rather than a full rewrite of crinoid ecology. The fossil’s exceptional preservation arose from a rare Konservat-Lagerstätten-like sequence, and the study, published in Royal Society Open Science, highlights how discoveries can hide in museum drawers just waiting to be noticed.