The Echinoid Directory

Paracentrotus Mortensen, 1903, p. 124

[=Microcordyla Zirpulo, 1927; type species Microcordyla asteriae Zirpulo, 1927. ]

Diagnostic Features	Apical disc dicyclic (rarely with ocular 1 exsert). Ambulacral plating polygeminate with 5 pore-pairs to a plate; pore-pairs arranged in arcs, forming oblique rows separated by a secondary tubercle. One primary ambulacral tubercle to each compound plate. Interambulacral plates with larger primary tubercle and one or more obvious secondary tubercles on either side at the ambitus. Little or no granulation. Spines about half the test diameter in length. Globiferous pedicellariae with single pair of lateral teeth and open blade.
Distribution	Pleistocene to Recent; Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Name gender	masculine
Type	Echinus lividus Lamarck, 1816, p. 50, by original designation.
Species Included	P. lividus (Lamarck, 1816); Recent; Atlantic and Mediterranean. P. gaimardi (Blainville, 1825); Recent, S. Atlantic.
Classification and/or Status	Camarodonta; Echinoida; Parechinidae. ?
Remarks	Differs from the very similar Psammechinus in having five, not three, pore-pairs to a compound plate. It differs from Loxechinus in having fewer pore-pairs to a plate and longer spines. Mortensen, T. 1903. The Danish Ingolf-Expedition 1895-1896. Vol. 4, No. 2. Echinoidea, pt. 1, 198 pp., 21 pls. Bianco Luno, Copenhagen.