Toxopneustidae
Collector urchin.jpg
Tripneustes gratilla
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Echinodermata
Class:
Echinoidea
Superorder:
Echinacea
Order:
Camarodonta
Family:
Toxopneustidae

Troschel, 1872
Genera
See text

Toxopneustidae is a family of globular sea urchins in the class Echinoidea.

Characteristics

All Camarodonts have imperforate tubercles and compound ambulacral plates. In addition, the Toxopneustids are characterised by the peristome, or opening through the test, having a sharp margin with the buccal notches being prominent. The tubercles lack the crenulations or ring of cog-like structures that articulate with the spines in certain other families. The Aristotle's lantern, or jaw apparatus, has the keeled teeth and the epiphyses united above the foramen magnum, the V-shaped gap between the hemipyramids that support the lantern's tooth.

Genera

  • Goniopneustes Duncan, 1889
  • Gymnechinus Mortensen, 1903b
  • Lytechinus A. Agassiz, 1863
  • Nudechinus H.L. Clark, 1912
  • Oligophyma Pomel, 1869
  • Pseudoboletia Troschel, 1869
  • Schizechinus Pomel, 1869
  • Scoliechinus Arnold & H.L. Clark, 1927
  • Sphaerechinus Desor, 1856
  • Toxopneustes L. Agassiz, 1841b
  • Tripneustes L. Agassiz, 1841b

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Toxopneustidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.