Molpadid holothurian calcareous ring material from the early Maastrichtian Rügen Chalk, Germany

Molpadid sea cucumbers are important components of the infaunal benthos in today’s marine ecosystems. This can also be assumed for Cenozoic and partly Mesozoic times. However, the fossil record to date is more than patchy and also concerns the Upper Cretaceous, for example. From the early Maastrichtian chalk of the Jasmund Peninsula/Isle of Rügen, the world’s only second record of late Cretaceous calcareous ring material of molpadid sea cucumbers ( Cretacaudina rugia gen. et sp. nov.) is described, discussed and subsequently morphologically compared with extant forms.