The Echinoid Directory

Contributed by Pedro Pereira, November 2012

Parascutella lusitanica (de Loriol, 1896)

Diagnostic Features	Test slightly transversely elongate in outline; maximum test height about one-tenth of test length, lying slightly posterior of centre. Apical disc subcentral to slightly anterior of the centre of the test. Petals extend about two-thirds of the corresponding test radius; anterior paired petals slightly longer than the frontal petal and slightly shorter than the posterior ones. The pore-pairs are closely spaced; the distal ones are irregularly curved. The interporiferous zone is up to 14% as wide as a petal; it is slightly wider in the frontal petal than in the paired petals. Periproct positioned at the suture between the third pair of post-basicoronal plates.
Distribution	Lower Miocene (Burdigalian) and Middle Miocene of Portugal.
Type	Lectotype, Museu Geologico (Lisbon, Portugal) MG 3414c; paralectotypes MG 3414a-b, 3414, 3633, 3636 and 3772.
Classification and/or Status	A species of Parascutella.
Remarks	The narrowness of the interporiferous zones distinguishes P. lusitanica from many Parascutella species, such as P. gibbercula, P. leognanensis and P. almerai. P. lusitanica differs from P. stefaninii by its shorter and narrower petals and its more closely spaced pore-pairs (about 40 pore-pairs can be observed on each pore column on a 28 cm long petal in P. stefaninii against about 70 pore pairs on petals of similar length in P. lusitanica). de Loriol, P. 1896. Description des Echinodermes tertiaires du Portugal [Accompagne d'un tableau stratigraphique par J. C. Berkeley Cotter]. Memoires de la Direction des Traveaux Geologiques du Portugal, Lisboa, 50 p., 13 pls. Pereira, P. 2010. Echinoidea from the Neogene of Portugal mainland. Palaeontos, Mortsel, 18, 154 pp, 37 pls.