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Luigi Sanciu

  • Biodiversity Journal, 5 (2): 291-358 - MONOGRAPH

    Paolo Stara & Luigi Sanciu
    Analysis of some astriclypeids echinoids (Echinoidea Clypeasteroidea)

    ABSTRACT
    The systematic position of some astriclypeid species assigned through times to the genera Amphiope L. Agassiz, 1840 and Echinodiscus Leske, 1778 is reviewed based on the plating pattern characteristics of these two genera universally accepted, and on the results of new studies. A partial re-arrangement of the family Astriclypeidae Stefanini, 1912 is herein proposed, with the institution of Sculpsitechinus n. g. and Paraamphiope n. g., both of them characterized by a peculiar plating-structure of the interambulacrum 5 and of the ambulacra I and V. Some species previously attributed to Amphiope and Echinodiscus are transferred into these two new genera. Two new species of Astriclypeidae are established: Echinodiscus andamanensis n. sp. and Paraamphiope raimondii n. sp. Neotypes are proposed for Echinodiscus tenuissimus L. Agassiz, 1840 and E. auritus Leske, 1778, since these species were still poorly defined, due to the loss of the holotypes and, for E. auritus, also to the unclear geographical/stratigraphical information about the type-locality. A number of additional nominal fossil and extant species of "Echinodiscus" needs revision based on the same method.