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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2016
Quintuplexacrinus new genus with Dendrocrinus oswegoensis Meek and Worthen (1868) as the type and only known species is described and assigned to the Merocrinidae. The new genus is characterized by a unique stem with a highly pentalobate axial canal; the distal column is highly differentiated with large and very high nodals and thin intemodals. A cladistic analysis indicates that Quintuplexacrinus n. gen. is closely related to Praecupulocrinus. The numbers of the various orders of brachs are independent of the size and age of the animals. Within the arms only the numbers of primibrachs and secundibrachs are positively correlated. Some variation is related to position of the rays. The C ray bears the smallest number of primibrachs. The outer half-rays possess more numerous tertibrachs than the inner ones. Aboral cup growth produces a wide-based and distally expanding outline at all sizes. In general, the widths of the cup and the cup's component plates are positively allometric relative to their heights. Likewise, the width: height ratios of the proximal brachs, primibrachs through tertibrachs, increase in older and larger individuals because the widths grow faster than the heights. The number of columnals in both the proximal and distal stem regions is typically stabilized throughout ontogeny. However, the entire stem becomes longer and wider in larger specimens due to calcite deposition on the columnals. Development of the columnals is isometric so their shapes do not change with size and age.