The Echinoid Directory

Toxopneustes L. Agassiz, 1841, p. 7

[=Boletia Desor 1846, p. 362 (objective); =Hemiechinus Agassiz, 1872, p. 167 (nomen nudum)]

Diagnostic Features	Apical disc hemicyclic; peripoct opening close to ocular plate I. Ambulacral plating trigeminate, with pore-pairs in oblique arcs of three tending to become arranged into three distinct columns but not separated by tubercles as in Tripneustes. Pore zone relatively broad throughout and uniform. Primary ambulacral tubercle on every second plate only. Lower surface flattened, with relatively small peristome. Multiple equal-sized tubercles on interambulacral plates. Buccal notches sharp and pronounced.
Distribution	Pliocene to Recent, Indo-Pacific.
Name gender	feminine
Type	Echinus pileolus Lamarck, 1816, p. 45, by original designation.
Species Included	T. pileolus (Lamarck, 1816); Recent, Indo-Pacific. 0-90 m. T. maculatus (Lamarck, 1816); Recent, Christmas Island, Littoral. T. roseus (Agassiz, 1863); Recent, East Pacific, 2-50 m. T. elegans Doderlein, 1885; Recent, Japan, 20 m.
Classification and/or Status	Camarodonta; Echinoida; Toxopneustidae. Presumed monophyletic.
Remarks	Only Tripneustes has deep buccal notches and pore-pairs aligned into three vertical series, but in that taxon tuberculation is very much sparser, with multiple subequal tubercles never developed on interambulacral plates. Mortensen, T. (1943) A monograph of the Echinoidea Part III.2, Camarodonta 1. C. A. Reitzel, Copenhagen