Article: An enigmatic Silurian metazoan from Gotland

An articulated specimen of a vagile metazoan with at least twelve similar, calcitic, dorsal skeletal sclerites is described from the Hemse Beds (Silurian, Ludlow Series) of Gotland, Sweden, as Selenoplax ogmota gen. et sp. nov. In thin section, a sclerite shows a microstructure of posteriorly radiating, interfering spherulitic cones of calcite with fine growth lamellae; the original composition can be inferred to have been calcitic. Suprageneric taxonomic relationships are assessed but as yet it is not possible to assign the genus to any known phylum.