Sollasina

Sollasina Temporal range: Homerian–Eifelian[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life restoration of Sollasina cthulhu
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Ophiocistioidea
Family:	Sollasinidae
Genus:	Sollasina Fedotov, 1926
Species
Sollasina woodwardi Sollas, 1899 (type) Sollasina westfalica Richter, 1930 Sollasina cthulhu Rahman et al., 2019

Sollasina is an extinct genus of ophiocistioid that is known from Silurian to Devonian.^[1][2][3]

Taxonomy

Sollasina cthulhu from the Coalbrookdale Formation of the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte in England was named after H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.^[1][4] The fossil was 3 cm wide, and the animal was likely the size of a large spider, with 45 tentacle-like tube feet.^[5][6]

References

1. Rahman, Imran A.; Thompson, Jeffrey R.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Siveter, David J.; Siveter, Derek J.; Sutton, Mark D. (2019). "A new ophiocistioid with soft-tissue preservation from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, and the evolution of the holothurian body plan". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 286 (1900): 20182792. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.2792. PMC 6501687. PMID 30966985.
2. Shelton, Jim (11 April 2019). "Researchers Discover Fossils of Cthulhu-Like Creature". Scitech Daily. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
3. "Fossilworks: Sollasina". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
4. Kristoffersen, Matt (16 April 2019). "Yale, UK scientists name ancient species after Cthulhu". Yale News. New Haven, Connecticut.
5. "The return of Cthulhu — the small sea critter". 9 April 2019.
6. "Tentacled 'Cthulhu' fossil reconstruction reveals monstrous relative of modern sea cucumbers".