The Echinoid Directory

Dermechinus Mortensen, 1942, p. 231

Diagnostic Features	Test globular; usually taller than wide. Apical disc very small, dicyclic. Periproct small (ca. 30% disc): covered in small granules. Ambulacra trigeminate; pore-pairs very small; forming adradial band with perradial granulation. Interambulacral plates with primary tubercles forming a vertical column and much smaller secondary tubercles forming rows. Plates covered in dense granulation. Peristome very small, smaller than apical disc in diameter. Buccal membrane devoid of spicules. Secondary spines with thorned shaft.
Distribution	Recent; circum Antarctic (S. Africa, S. America, S. Australia).
Name gender	masculine
Type	Echinus horridus A. Agassiz, 1879, p. 203, by original designation. Syntype: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard MCZ 1164.
Species Included	Only the type species.
Classification and/or Status	Camarodonta; Echinoida; Echinidae. Monotypic.
Remarks	Easily recognized by its unusually tall profile, reduced and offset triads of pore-pairs, very small peristome and plate surfaces that are strongly granulated. Mortensen, T. 1943. A monograph of the Echinoidea Part III, 3. Camarodonta II. C. A. Retzel, Copenhagen.