SUMMARY

Crinoids from the marine succession near the base of the Namurian (Pendleian, Mississippian) of NE England remain poorly known. Robust crinoid pluricolumnals from the Rookhope Shell Beds Limestone, exposed in the banks of the River Tees near Winston, Co. Durham, are identified as Rhabdocrinus sp. cf. R. swaledalensis Wright. The broad, cyclocyclic pluricolumnals consist of low, heteromorphic N1 columnals that are unlikely to have been derived from any other English Pendleian crinoid. However, the dististele of R. swaledalensis sensu stricto remains unknown, hence the specimens from Winston remain in open nomenclature. Attachment was distal with a dendritic radice; large radice scars are common on some specimens. Evidence shows that Rhabdocrinus spp. had long stems, certainly hundreds of mm in length in the species from Winston.