Lepidocystidae
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| Lepidocystidae Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The lepidocystid Kinzercystis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | †Eocrinoidea |
| Order: | †Imbricata |
| Family: | †Lepidocystidae Durham 1967 |
| Genera | |
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The Lepidocystidae (sometimes misspelled Lepidocystoidae, not to be confused with the class Lepidocystoidea that was proposed at the same time but later abandoned) are an extinct family that constitute the most basal known group within the paraphyletic class "Eocrinoidea", and therefore within the subphylum Blastozoa as a whole.[1] Its members, along with the transitional Felbabkacystidae, are also known as "imbricates" or "imbricate Eocrinoids" after the likewise paraphyletic order Imbricata.[2]
Lepidocystids demonstrate that echinoderms had already developed five equally well-developed ambulacra in five-sided radial symmetry. However, this group had not yet developed pentameral symmetry in its plate arrangements.[3]