The Echinoid Directory

Megapatagus Sanchez-Roig, 1953, p. 58

Diagnostic Features	Test ovate with faint anterior sulcus at ambitus; posterior face truncate. Test depressed in profile. Apical disc ethmolytic with four gonopores; a little anterior of centre. Madreporic plate extends far behind posterior ocular plates. Anterior ambulacrum flush adapically; narrow with small undifferentiated pore-pairs arranged linearly. Paired ambulacra petaloid; petals strongly bowed, with very wide perradial zones; closed distally. Anterior petals almost at 180 degrees. Petals extending to ambitus. Peristome D-shaped, slightly indented by labral plate. Plastron plating not recorded; sutures not visible. Periproct on posterior truncate face. Fascioles not preserved (test worn).
Distribution	Oligo-Miocene, Cuba.
Name gender	masculine
Type	Megapatagus fransiscanus, Sanchez-Roig, 1953, p. 58 [=Euspatagus clevei Cotteau, 1875, p. 44], by original designation.
Species Included	Only the type species.
Classification and/or Status	Spatangoida, Micrasterina, Maretiidae. Monotypic: Subjective junior synonym of Eupatagus Agassiz, 1847.
Remarks	Kier (1984) redescribed the type specimen and considered it synonymous with Eupatagus clevei (Cotteau). There are no structural characters to distinguish this taxon from Eupatagus. Kier, P. M. 1984. Fossil spatangoid echinoids of Cuba. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 55, 1-336.