The Echinoid Directory

Parapygus Pomel, 1883, p. 61

[Pseudocatopygus Cotteau & Gauthier, 1895, type species Pseudocatopygus longior Cotteau & Gauthier, 1895 ]

Diagnostic Features	Test of medium size, elongate, somewhat inflated, with well-rounded margin, slightly depressed adoral surface. Apical system tetrabasal, anterior, with four genital pores, posterior genital plates separated by genital 2. Petals well developed, open but closing distally. Pores conjugate, single pores in ambulacral plates beyond petals. Periproct marginal to slightly inframarginal, longitudinal. Peristome anterior, regular, pentagonal, wider than long; with vertical-walled entrance. Bourrelets moderately developed. Phyllodes single pored, broadened, with two series of pores in each half-ambulacrum. Buccal pores present. Naked, tubercle-free zone on oral surface to posterior of peristome.
Distribution	Upper Cretaceous (Turonian-Santonian) of Europe and Africa. Lambert & Thiery (1909-1925, p. 352) give a range of Valanginian to Senonian for this genus, however, all pre-Turonian species have double pored phyllodes and should be referred to Pygorhynchus.
Name gender	masculine
Type	Botriopygus cotteauanus d\'Orbigny, 1856, p. 341; by subsequent designation of Lambert, 1898, p. 162.
Species Included	P. cotteauanusd'Orbigny, 1856); Turonian, France. P. coquandi (Cotteau, 1866); Santonian, Algeria. P. toucasanus (d'Orbigny, 1855); Turonian, France.
Classification and/or Status	Irregularia; Cassiduloida; \'Gitolampadids\'
Remarks	This genus is very similar to Pygorhynchus, except that the phyllodes are single pored in Parapygus and double pored in Pygorhynchus. Kier (1962) comments that Parapygus is probably a descendant of Pygorhynchus, as it occurs later in the Cretaceous; its single pored phyllodes indicating that it is more advanced. Pomel, A. 1883. Classification méthodique et genera des Échinides vivante et fossiles. Thèses présentées a la Faculté des Sciences de Paris pour obtenir le Grade de Docteur ès Sciences Naturelles, 503, 131 pp. Aldolphe Jourdan, Alger. P. M. Kier. 1962. Revision of the cassiduloid echinoids. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 144 (3) 262 pp. J. Lambert & P. Thiery. 1909-1925. Essai de nomenclature raisonnee des echinides. Libraire Septime Ferriere, Chaumont, 607 pp., 15 pls.