Belongs within: Glyptocrinina.
The Melocrinitidae are a group of crinoids known from the Upper Ordovician to the Upper Devonian (Ubaghs 1978b).
Characters (from Ubaghs 1978b): Secundibrachs two or three in each ray, rarely more; interprimibrachs merging with tegmen; presence of intersecundibrachs and intertertibrachs dependent on degree of brachial incorporation in calyx; primanal generally followed by median row of anal plates; anal tube may be present. Free arms four in each ray, undivided or exotomously branching; inner pair of arms primitively distinct, secondarily fusing into stout biserial ramuli-bearing trunk; outer pair progressively reduced and disappearing in ultimate members. Column with sharply defined nodals and internodals.
Melocrinitidae [Ctenocrinidae, Melocrinidae]
|--Alisocrinus Kirk 1929U78b
| |--*A. warreni (Ringueberg 1888) [=Mariacrinus warreni]U78b
| `--A. tetrarmatus Brower 1973EB01
|--Trichotocrinus Olsson 1912U78b
| |--*T. harrisi (Olsson 1912) [=Melocrinus (Trichotocrinus) harrisi]U78b
| |--T. lutheriU78b
| `--T. terranovicusU78a
|--Promelocrinus Jaekel 1902 (see below for synonymy)U78b
| |--*P. anglicus Jaekel 1902U78b
| |--P. fulminatusU78b
| |--‘*Zenkericrinus’ melocrinoides Waagen & Jahn 1899U78b
| `--P. radiatusU78a
|--Ctenocrinus Bronn 1840 (see below for synonymy)U78b
| |--*C. typus Bronn 1840 [=*Ctenocrinites typus]U78b
| |--‘*Clonocrinus’ bigsbyi Oehlert 1879U78b
| |--C. gottlandicus (Pander in Helmersen 1858)U78b (see below for synonymy)
| |--C. nobilissimus (Hall 1859)U78a, U78b [=*Mariacrinus nobilissimusU78b]
| |--‘*Astrocrinites’ pachydactylus Conrad 1841 [=*Astrocrinus pachydactylus]U78b
| `--‘Periechocrinus’ radiatus [=Lindstroemiocrinus radiatus]J18
`--Melocrinites Goldfuss 1831 (see below for synonymy)U78b
|--*M. hieroglyphicus Goldfuss 1831 [=*Melocrinus hieroglyphicus]U78b
|--M. aequusU78b
|--‘*Kuzbassocrinus’ bystrowi Yeltysheva 1957U78b
|--M. gibbosus Goldfuss 1831 [=*Castanocrinus gibbosus]U78b
|--M. gracilisEB01
|--M. micmacBL78
|--M. pulcherU78a
`--M. splendensU78a
Ctenocrinus Bronn 1840 [=Ctenocrinites Steininger 1849; incl. Astrocrinites Conrad 1841, Astrocrinus Bather 1900 non Morris 1843, Clonocrinus Oehlert 1879 non Quenstedt 1876, Lindstroemiocrinus Jaekel 1918, Mariacrinus Hall 1859]U78b
Ctenocrinus gottlandicus (Pander in Helmersen 1858)U78b [=Trochocrinites gottlandicusU78b, *Lindstroemiocrinus gottlandicusU78b, Periechocrinus gottlandicusJ18]
Melocrinites Goldfuss 1831 [=Melocrinus Agassiz 1836; incl. Castanocrinus Roemer 1855, Kuzbassocrinus Yeltysheva 1957]U78b
Promelocrinus Jaekel 1902 [incl. Proctenocrinus Jaekel 1918 (n. n.), Xenocrinus Jahn 1892 non Miller 1881, Zenkericrinus Waagen & Jahn 1899]U78b
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BL78] Breimer, A., & N. G. Lane. 1978. Ecology and paleoecology. In: Moore, R. C., & C. Teichert (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea vol. 1 pp. T316–T347. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).
[EB01] Eckert, J. D., & C. E. Brett. 2001. Early Silurian (Llandovery) crinoids from the Lower Clinton Group, western New York State. Bulletins of American Paleontology 360: 1–88.
[J18] Jaekel, O. 1918. Phylogenie und System der Pelmatozoen. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 3: 1–128.
[U78a] Ubaghs, G. 1978a. Skeletal morphology of fossil crinoids. In: Moore, R. C., & C. Teichert (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea vol. 1 pp. T58–T216. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).
[U78b] Ubaghs, G. 1978b. Camerata. In: Moore, R. C., & C. Teichert (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea vol. 2 pp. T408–T519. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).