Pourtalesiidae

Pourtalesiidae
Pourtalesia miranda
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Echinoidea
Order:	Holasteroida
Family:	Pourtalesiidae Agassiz, 1881

The pourtalesiids (Pourtalesiidae) are a family of irregular sea urchins that live in the deep sea. They are secondarily bilateral-symmetrical and like other representatives of the taxon Holasteroida they lack the lantern of Aristotle, which is typical for many other sea urchins. The genus Pourtalesia was named after Louis-François de Pourtalès who first collected these animals while dredging at a depth of 600 m. The family is known already from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) and is distributed worldwide.

Species and genera

Currently, there are 10 genera with 28 extant and 5 extinct species described.

• genus Ceratophysa Pomel, 1883
  • Ceratophysa ceratopyga (A. Agassiz, 1879)
  • Ceratophysa rosea (A. Agassiz, 1879)
• genus Cystocrepis Mortensen, 1907
  • Cystocrepis setigera (A. Agassiz, 1898)
• genus Echinocrepis A. Agassiz, 1879
  • Echinocrepis cuneata A. Agassiz, 1879
  • Echinocrepis rostrata Mironov, 1973
• genus Echinosigra Mortensen, 1907
  • Echinosigra (Echinogutta) amphora Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinogutta) antarctica Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinogutta) fabrefacta Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinogutta) valvaedentata Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinosigra) mortensi Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinosigra) phiale (Thomson, 1873)
  • Echinosigra (Echinosigra) porrecta Mironov, 1974
  • Echinosigra (Echinosigra) vityazi Mironov, 1997
• genus Galeaster Seunes, 1889 †
  • Galeaster carinatus Ravn, 1927 †
  • Galeaster dagestanensis Poslavskaya & Moskvin, 1960 †
  • Galeaster minor Poslavskaya, in Moskvin & Poslavskaya, 1949 †
  • Galeaster muntshiensis Tzaghareli, 1949 †
  • Galeaster sumbaricus Poslavskaya, in Moskvin & Poslavskaya, 1949 †
• genus Helgocystis Mortensen, 1907
  • Helgocystis carinata (A. Agassiz, 1879)
• genus Pourtalesia A. Agassiz, 1869
  • Pourtalesia alcocki Koehler, 1914
  • Pourtalesia aurorae Koehler, 1926
  • Pourtalesia debilis Koehler, 1926
  • Pourtalesia heptneri Mironov, 1978
  • Pourtalesia hispida A. Agassiz, 1897
  • Pourtalesia jeffreysi Thomson, 1873
  • Pourtalesia laguncula A. Agassiz, 1879
  • Pourtalesia miranda A. Agassiz, 1869
  • Pourtalesia tanneri A. Agassiz, 1898
  • Pourtalesia thomsoni Mironov, 1976
  • Pourtalesia vinogradovae Mironov, 1995
• genus Rictocystis Mironov, 1996
  • Rictocystis jensenae Mironov, 1996
• genus Solenocystis Mironov, 2008
  • Solenocystis imitans Mironov, 2008
• genus Spatagocystis A. Agassiz, 1879
  • Spatagocystis challengeri A. Agassiz, 1879