The Echinoid Directory

Rotula Schumacher, 1817, p. 33

[=Echinotrochus Pomel, 1883, p. 72, type species (objective)]

Diagnostic Features	Test discoidal; ambitus sharp. Four gonopores in apical disc. Pentagonal with ocular plates at the points. Adapical interambulacra a uniserial series of plates. Petals well developed and open distally. Posterior of test strongly digitate. Food grooves on oral surface well developed; bifurcating immediately after basicoronal circlet. Basicoronal circlet composed of paired ambulacral and paired interambulacral plates (20 in total). Periproct midway between peristome and posterior margin on oral face; opening between second pair of paired interambulacral plates. Internal partitions well-developed around margin; formed of V-shaped bars on either side of radial elements.
Distribution	?Miocene, Recent; West Africa.
Name gender	feminine
Type	Rotula multiloba Schumacher, 1817 (=Echinodiscus deciesdigitatus Leske, 1778) by monotypy.
Species Included	Only the type species.
Classification and/or Status	Clypeasteroida; Scutellina; Laganiformes; Rotulidae. Monotypic.
Remarks	Differs from Rotuloidea and Heliophora in having lunules in the anterior part of the test. Mortensen, T. 1948. A Monograph of the Echinoidea IV.2 Clypeasteroida. C. A. Reitzel, Copenhagen. J. W. Durham 1955 Classification of clypeasteroid echinoids. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 31, 73-191.