The Echinoid Directory

Contributed by Jenna Sullivan, April 2007

Australanthus florescens (Gregory 1892, p. 435)

[Cassidulus florescens Gregory 1892, p. 435, pl. 12, figs 1-4.]

Diagnostic Features	Outline seen from above elongated, tapering to anterior end; greatest width at the distal end of postero-lateral petals; Long, straight margins; tumid ambitus; concave actinal surface, with peristome at the summit of the depression; median bare band imperfectly developed Apical system: before the vertex and consists of a large central madreporite and four genital pores Ambulacra: Petals sublanceolate, flush; open below. Anterior is longest. Antero-lateral pair is considerably shorter than postero-lateral pair. Peristome: anterior. Floscelle not well developed; the bourrelets are massive but not prominent. Mouth pentagonal. Anus oval: broad and large. The subanal groove shallow, short and broad.
Distribution	Janjukian, Port Addis Limestone, Upper Oligocene-earliest Miocene, Fyans Ford Hill, Moorabool River, northwest of Geelong, Australia.
Type	Natural History Museum syntypes E3771- E3773.
Classification and/or Status	Species of Australanthus.
Remarks	Differs from Cassidulus faba in the petal structure: petals of Cassidulus faba are longer and almost entirely closed, while petals of Cassidulus florescens are almost open. Anus of Cassidulus florescens is longer and narrower, and the test higher [from Gregory 1892]. Holmes (1999) records this species from the Port Addis Limestone close to the type locality. Gregory, J. W. 1892. Further additions to Australian fossil Echinoidea. Geological Magazine decade III, 9, 433-438, pl. 12. Holmes, F. C. 1999. Australian Tertiary Apatopygidae (Echinoidea). Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 111, 51-70.