Toxopneustes maculatus

Toxopneustes maculatus is a rare species of sea urchin found in the Indo-West Pacific.[2]

Toxopneustes maculatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Echinodermata
Class:
Echinoidea
Superorder:
Echinacea
Order:
Camarodonta
Infraorder:
Temnopleuridea
Family:
Toxopneustidae
Genus:
Toxopneustes
Species:
T. elegans
Binomial name
Toxopneustes maculatus
(Lamarck, 1816)
  Estimated range
Synonyms[1]
  • Boletia maculata (Lamarck, 1816)
  • Echinus depressus Blainville, 1825
  • Echinus maculatus Lamarck, 1816

Taxonomy

Toxopneustes maculatus is one of the four species in the genus Toxopneustes. It belongs to the family Toxopneustidae in the order Camarodonta. It was originally described as Echinus maculatus by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1816, in the second book of his Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres series.[1] The generic name Toxopneustes literally means "poison breath", derived from Greek τοξικόν [φάρμακον] (toksikón [phármakon], "arrow [poison]") and πνευστος (pneustos, "breath"). The specific name maculatus means "spotted" in Latin.

Description

The appearance of living specimens is unknown, but like other flower urchins, it probably has prominent pedicellariae. It is only known from empty "shells" (tests). The tests have a distinctive color pattern with a large bright purple blotch around the entirety of the bottom surface as well as a bright blue-violet band around the middle.[3]

Distribution

Toxopneustes maculatus has a range probably as large as that of the more common Toxopneustes pileolus, but it is exceedingly rare. It is known only from a few specimens recovered from Réunion, Christmas Island, unspecified areas of the Indian Ocean, and the Palmyra Atoll.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. Andreas Kroh (2014). Kroh A, Mooi R (eds.). "Toxopneustes maculatus (Lamarck, 1816)". World Echinoidea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  2. The Echinoid Directory. "Toxopneustes L. Agassiz, 1841, p. 7". Natural History Museum. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  3. Hubert Lyman Clark (1925). A Catalogue of the Recent Sea-Urchins (Echinoidea) in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Oxford University Press. pp. 122–123.
  4. Alexander Agassiz & Hubert Lyman Clark (1912). "Hawaiian and Other Pacific Echini: The Pedinidae, Phymosomatidae, Stomopneustidae, Echinidae, Temnopleuridae, Strongylocentrotidae, and Echinometridae". Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College. 34 (4): 207–383.
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