The Echinoid Directory

Giraliaster Foster & Philip, 1978, p. 804

Diagnostic Features	Test cordiform; anterior sulcus deep with carina. Apical disc with four gonopores. Genital plates unfused. Paired ambulacra with weakly enlarged pore-pairs. Columns in anterior paired ambulacra markedly narrower than those in the posterior column. Frontal groove continuous from apex to peristome; mouth facing downwards. Plastron plating protosternous with crescentic labral plate just reaching second sternal plate. Subsequent plating biserial, with plates extending almost the full width of the plastron. Enlarged primary tubercles bordering the inner edge of the anterior groove. Subanal fasciole present crossing interambulacral plates 4a/4b on adoral side.
Distribution	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to Late Oligocene, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctic.
Name gender	masculine
Type	Giraliaster jubileensis Foster & Philip 1978, p. 805, by original designation.
Species Included	G. jubileensis Foster & Philip, 1978; Palaeocene, Carnarvon Basin, western Australia. G. tertiarius (Gregory, 1890); Late Eocene, southern Australia. G. sulcatus (Hutton, 1873); Late Eocene, southern Australia. G. bellissae Foster & Philip, 1978; Late Oligocene, New Zealand. ?G. lorioli (Lambert, 1910); Maastrichtian, Snow Hill Island, Antarctica.
Classification and/or Status	Holasteroida, stem group. Presumed monophyletic.
Remarks	Differs from Cardiaster in having a subanal fasciole rather than a marginal fasciole and a protosternous plastron. Closest to Pseudholaster, differing only in having a subanal fasciole. Foster, R. J. & Philip, G. M. 1978. Tertiary holasteroid echinoids from Australia and New Zealand. Palaeontology 21, 791-822.