The Echinoid Directory

Pseudosalenia Cotteau, 1859, p. 215

[=Prandinia Vadet, 2000, p. 93, type species Cidarites interpunctata Quenstedt, 1852, p. 576; =Amphisalenia Pomel, 1883, p. 95 (nomen nudum). ]

Diagnostic Features	Periproct lying along the amb III - interamb 5 axis. Apical disc small and raised above the corona; almost unsculpted and without obvious sutural pits athough triple junction between ocular and genital plates slightly deepened and widened in some. Single large suranal plate incorporated into disc. All ocular plates exsert. Gonopores close to outer margin of genital plates. Ambulacral plating trigeminate adorally and unigeminate aborally; aboral portions very narrow and sinuous, without granulation between primary tubercles. All ambulacral tubercles imperforate. Interambulacral tubercles crenulate and with small perforation that is more obvious in small individuals. In larger individuals adoral tubercles may be imperforate and ambital and aboral tubercles pierced by only a rudimentary perforation. Peristome larger than apical disc. Spines stout and fusiform with smooth cortex; between 1 and 1.5 times test diameter in length.
Distribution	Late Jurassic (Late Oxfordian to Tithonian) to ?Cenomanian of Europe, possibly also Middle East and Central America.
Name gender	feminine
Type	Pseudosalenia flexuosa Cotteau, 1859, by monotypy [=Acrosalenia aspera L. Agassiz, 1838]
Species Included	P. aspera (Agassiz); Late Oxfordian to Tithonian of western Europe. [may include P. interpunctata Quenstedt, 1852; Kimmeridgian, Europe] ?P. paquieri (Savin, 1902); Aptian of France. ?P. delgadoi Loriol, 1887; Late Albian - Cenomanian of Portugal. ?P. zumoffeni Loriol; Cenomanian, Lebanon. ?P. cuevasensis Loriol; Cenomanian, Honduras.
Classification and/or Status	Carinacea, Calycina, Salenioida; stem group Saleniidae. Monophyletic.
Remarks	Distinguished from Heterosalenia by its periproct lying symmetrically along the amb III - interamb 5 axis rather than offset to ocular plate I. Distinguished from Hyposaleniinae by having perforate interambulacral tubercles. The narrow unigeminate ambulacra distinguish it from Acrosalenia. Whether any of the Cretaceous forms truly belong to this genus is uncertain; modern redescriptions of these taxa are needed. Cotteau, G. 1859. Échinides nouveaux ou peu connus (2). Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, 11, p. 215.