Taxonomy and distribution of irregular echinoids (Echinoidea: Irregularia) from Sri Lanka
Author
Arachchige, Gayashan M.
Author
Jayakody, Sevvandi
Author
Mooi, Rich
Author
Kroh, Andreas
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-01-03
4541
1
1
100
journal article
27715
10.11646/zootaxa.4541.1.1
9c3fecf1-4e11-4c79-a908-e0a5abbaf3ca
1175-5326
2617460
B11E734C-218B-418C-84E6-719AB3C58AFF
Clypeaster reticulatus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Figures 22–24
1758
Echinus reticulatus
Linnaeus
: p. 666. 1948b
Clypeaster
(
Rhaphidoclypus
)
reticulatus
(Linnaeus)
.—Mortensen: p. 71–76; pl. 18: figs. 1–21; pl. 26: fig. 3; pl. 65: figs. 2, 13, 16.
Material studied.
Two denuded specimens: WUSL/EI/19 from Hiriketiya and WUSL/EI/20 from Nilwella,
Sri Lanka
.
Description.
Shape and size
—Small, 35 and
41 mm
TL; test elongate ovoid to pentagonal, distinctly longer than broad, TW 75% and 76% TL; test low, 26% and 31% TL in height; test margin greatly thickened, forming a distinct ring-shaped depression between margin and petalodium; aboral side slightly raised toward apex, concave on oral side, infundibulum deep, bowl-shaped, c. 14% TL and 17% TL.
Apical system
—Monobasal; situated slightly anterior of centre on aboral surface, c. 45% and 48% TL from anterior margin; circular gonopore in each interambulacrum near madreporic plate; ocular pores small and indistinct.
Ambulacra
—Petaloid area 63% and 65% TL; petals inflated, closed distally; petal III longest, c. 32% TL; anterior paired petals c. 23% TL, considerably shorter than other petals; posterior paired petals c. 30% TL; paired petals broader distally than other petals; interporiferous zone conspicuously elevated, consisting of 5–6 primary tubercles along widest part of petals; furrow connecting pores in each pore pair deep and sharply delimited; 2–5 primary tubercles between furrows; oral ambulacra simple, inconspicuous food groves present along axis of each ambulacrum.
Interambulacra
—All interambulacra on oral surface disjunct; on aboral surface, small, shallow pits present in corners of sutures (
Fig. 23
, A); primary tubercles less dense on oral surface than aborally.
Tuberculation
—Primary tubercles perforate, areoles sunken, dense miliary tuberculation in between primary tubercles; oral side with adoral region of much smaller tubercles; largest tubercles present toward test edge, intermediate sized tubercles present very close to peristome, smallest tubercles present in between zone of largest tubercles and zone of intermediate-sized tubercles (
Fig. 23
, B).
Peristome
—Round to subpentagonal, small, width c. 7% TL, located close to centre, c. 46% and 51% TL from anterior margin.
Periproct
—Round to transverse oval, length 4% and 5% TL, width 4% and 6% TL; significantly smaller than peristome, c. 64% of peristome length; situated close to posterior edge of test, c. 4% TL away from posterior margin.
Internal buttressing
—Pillars inside test more abundant along midlines of interambulacra; marginal buttressing largely absent (
Fig. 23
, C).
Geographic range.
Indo-West Pacific, from Islands of West Indian Ocean (
Clark 1925a
),
Mauritius
(de
Loriol 1883
), East Africa &
Madagascar
(
Brown 1910a
), Red Sea (
Agassiz 1872
), South East Arabia (
Mortensen 1948c
), Persian Gulf (
Mortensen 1940
), West Indian &
Pakistan
(
Koehler 1922
),
Maldives
area (
Koehler 1922
),
Sri Lanka
(
Herdman
et al.
1904
;
Koehler 1922
), Bay of Bengal (
Koehler 1922
), North
Australia
(
Clark 1925a
) and East Indies (de
Meijere 1904
;
Mortensen 1948a
) to
Philippine Islands
(
Mortensen 1948e
;
Mooi & Munguia 2014
),
China
& South
Japan
(
Clark 1925a
), South Pacific Islands (
Clark 1954
) and Hawaiian Islands (
Clark 1925b
).
Bathymetric range.
Littoral zone to
125 m
(
Mooi & Munguia 2014
).
Observed occurrence in
Sri Lanka
.
On
the beach of
Hiriketiya Bay
and
Nilwella
along the southern coast of
Sri Lanka
(
Fig. 24
), in biogenic sand; first recorded in
Sri Lanka
by
Herdman
et al.
(1904)
.
Bathymetric
range in
Sri Lanka
0–100 m
.
Remarks.
C. reticulatus
can be distinguished easily from
C. humilis
by having a greatly thickened test margin that forms a distinct ring-shaped depression between the margin and petaloid area. The oral surface of
C. reticulatus
is strongly concave, making a bowl-shaped infundibulum. Primary spine tubercles decrease in size towards the peristome, then increase again adjacent to the peristome.