Rare Campanian Echinoids from Höver and Misburg (Hannover Area, Lower Saxony, Germany)

Amongst the rich and fairly diverse echinoid faunas from the Campanian marl/marly limestone facies as exposed at the large quarries of the cement industry near Höver and Misburg (east of Hannover, northern Germany), there are a few rare taxa, most of which have not been recorded previously from the Lower Saxony Basin. These include Echinogalerus peltiformis (Wahlenberg, 1821), Conulus (C.) matesovi Poslavskaia & Moskvin in Moskvin 1959, Hagenowia blackmorei Wright & Wright, 1949, Diplodetus sp., and Peroniaster cotteaui Gauthier in Peron 1887. New material of another rare species, Hemiaster gr. aquisgranensis Schlüter, 1899, is here described. The palaeoecological significance of the rarity of these is briefly discussed. Of particular note, in a palaeobiogeographic context, are E. peltiformis and C. matesovi . The former is well known from Lower and Upper Campanian arenitic facies in southern Sweden, while the latter was held to be confined to the Lower Campanian of the Caucasus and Kazakhstan. These two species may have immigrated into the Lower Saxony Basin following transgressive pulses or within transgressive systems tracts.