''Ctenoimbricata'' is an extinct genus of bilaterally symmetrical

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...

, which lived during the early Middle

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

period of what is now Spain. It contains one species, ''Ctenoimbricata spinosa''. It may be the most basal known echinoderm. It resembles the extinct ctenocystoids and

cincta Cincta is an extinct class of echinoderms that lived only in the Middle Cambrian epoch. Homostelea is a junior synonym. The classification of cinctans is controversial, but they are probably part of the echinoderm stem group. Cinctans were sessi ...

ns, particularly the basal ctenocystoid ''Courtessolea''. ''Ctenoimbricata'' is interpreted as a deposit-feeding pharyngeal basket feeder. It was relatively small, with a body long.

References

Prehistoric echinoderm genera Cambrian echinoderms Fossil taxa described in 2012 {{cambrian-animal-stub Cambrian genus extinctions