The Echinoid Directory

Contributed by Andrew Smith, April 2008

Orthechinus Gauthier, 1889, p. 105

Diagnostic Features	Apical disc relatively small, plating missing Ambulacra trigeminate with uniserial pore-pairs; plate compounding diadematid with primary tubercle overlapping all elements Interambulacra with primary tubercle flanked by interradial smaller secondary tubercle. No adapical naked zone interradially Buccal notches rather well developed. Tubercles imperforate and crenulate
Distribution	Upper Cretaceous (Senonian), North Africa and the Middle East; possibly more widely distributed
Name gender	masculine
Type	Orthechinus tunetanus Gauthier, 1889, by original designation.
Species Included	O. tunetanus Gauthier, 1889; Late Cretaceous, Tunisia. O. cretaceus Cotteau & Gauthier, 1895; Late Cretaceous, Iran. [includes O. cotteaui Gauthier, 1902; Late Cretaceous, Iran] may be synonymous - see O. cotteaui for a well preserved individual.
Remarks	Gauthier, V. 1889. Description des échinides fossiles recueillis en 1885 et 1886 dans la région sud des hautes-plateaux de la Tunisie, par M. Philippe Thomas. Exploration scientifique de la Tunisie, Géologie, Paléontologie, 116 pp., 32 pls. Imprimerie Nationale, Paris.