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The Echinoid Directory

Goniocidaris Desor, in Agassiz & Desor 1846, p. 337

[=Stephanocidaris Agassiz, 1863, p. 18 (objective); =Adelcidaris Cotton & Godfrey, 1942, p. 217, (nomen vanum); ?=Delocidaris Philip, 1964, p. 464, type species Goniocidaris prunispinosa Chapman & Cudmore, 1928

See also Goniocidaris (Aspidocidaris) Mortensen, 1928; Goniocidaris (Cyrtocidaris) Mortensen, 1927; Goniocidaris (Discocidaris) Doderlein, 1885; Goniocidairs (Petalocidaris) Mortensen, 1903 ]

Diagnostic Features
  • Test weakly subconical.
  • Apical disc about 30-40% test diameter in adults; monocyclic; uniformly covered in tubercles/spines; ocular plates large. Sexual dimorphism in size of gonopores.
  • Ambulacra relatively straight and wide. Pore-pairs well developed and horizontal, the two pores separated by a well-developed partition. Perradial zone wide with marginal tubercle and inner zone of fine granules.
  • Perradial zone pitted.
  • Interambulacra with up to 12 plates in a series. Primary tubercles perforate, non-crenulate, with deeply incised areoles; positioned towards adradial suture.
  • Scrobicular circle strongly differentiated; extrascrobicular tubercles small and dense.
  • Horizontal and interradial sutures deeply furrowed.
  • Primary spines irregular, coarsely and irregularly thorned; apical spines with trumpet-like ending. Cortical hairs well developed.
Distribution
?Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), western Europe; Miocene to Recent, Indo-Pacific.
Name gender feminine
Type
Cidarites tubaria Lamarck, 1816, p. 57, by subsequent designation of Mortensen, 1928, p. 150.
Species Included
  • G. tubaria (Lamarck, 1816); Pliocene to Recent, Australia and New Zealand.
  • G. (Petalocidaris) florigera Agassiz, 1879; Recent Indo-West Pacific [includes spinosa, biserialis, belinensis].
  • G. (Discocidaris) mikado Doderlein, 1885; Recent, Indo-West Pacific [includes peltata].
  • G. tenuispinosa Mortensen, 1928; Recent, Philippines.
  • G. clypeata (Doderlein, 1885); Recent, Indo-West Pacific [includes fimbriata, crassa, sibogae, australiae, alba, indica, parasol].
  • G. corona Baker, 1968; Recent, New Zealand.
  • G. murrayensis Chapman & Cudmore, 1928; Miocene, Australia.
  • G. praecipua Philip, 1964; Upper Miocene, Australia.
  • G. affinis Duncan & Sladen, 1888; Miocene, Pakistan.
  • G. halaensis Duncan & Sladen, 1888; Miocene, Pakistan.
  • ?G. sp. Smith & Jeffery, 2000; Maastrichtian, The Netherlands.
Classification and/or Status

Cidaroida, Cidaridae, Goniocidarinae.

Presumed monophyletic.
Remarks

The subgenera Aspidocidaris, Cyrtocidaris, Discocidaris and Petalocidaris are distinguished primarily on spine morphology. Goniocidaris has no basal flange to its primary spines whereas the other subgenera do have such a flange ("basal disc"). Philip (1964) thought such differences merit only species-level differentiation.

For an account of the fossil record of this taxon see Philip (1964). A possible Maastrichtian Goniocidaris is known based on isolated interambulacral plates (Smith & Jeffery, 2000).

Agassiz, L. & Desor, P. J. E. 1846-1847. Catalogue raisonné des familles, des genres, et des espèces de la classe des échinodermes. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Troisième Série, Zoologie : 6 (1846): 305-374, pls. 15-16; 7 (1847): 129-168; 8 (1847): 5-35, 355-380.

Mortensen, T. 1928. A monograph of the Echinoidea. 1, Cidaroidea. C. A. Reitzel, Copenhagen.

Philip, G. M. 1964. The Tertiary echinoids of South-East Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 77, 433-477, pls 58-67.

Smith, A. B. & Jeffery, C. H. 2000. Maastrichtian and Palaeocene echinoids; a key to world faunas. Special Papers in Palaeontology 63, 1-406.