Lapillocystites BARRANDE is the edrioasteroid Stromatocystites POMPECKJ (Cambrian, Echinodermata)

Abstract : Reexamination of the type material of the enigmatic echinoderm Lapillocystites fragilis BARRANDE, 1887 from the Jince Formation (Drumian) of the Barrandian area (Czech Republic) shows that its original description is based on several accumulations of isolated plates representing several echinoderm thecae and two poorly preserved external moulds representing oral and aboral surface of one specimen of an edrioasteroid. Dimensions and morphology of plates established in all these specimens agree with thecal plates known in the widely distributed species Stromatocystites pentangularis POMPECKJ, 1896. S. pentangularis is known at all outcrops from which L. fragilis was reported by BARRANDE and all other authors. Lapillocystites fragilis BARRANDE, 1887 probably represents a subjective synonym of Stromatocystites pentangularis POMPECKJ.