The Echinoid Directory

Galeraster Cotteau, 1890, p. 548

Diagnostic Features	Test thick-shelled; ovate with no anterior sulcus; posterior face truncate. Apical disc with four gonopores. Ambulacra all similar; flush; pore-pairs with similar-sized pores. Peristome a little anterior of centre; ovate and depressed. Plastron plating orthosternous with labral plate followed by a single large sternal plate then a pair of small, symmetical episternal plates and a single rostral plate. Keeled. Periproct ovate, on vertically truncate posterior face. Subanal fasciole presumably present but not preserved on holotype.
Distribution	Early Miocene of Mount Gambier, Victoria, Australia.
Name gender	masculine
Type	Galeraster australiae Cotteau, 1890, p. 548 [=Rhynchopygus dysasteroides Duncan, 1877, p. 49], by original designation.
Species Included	Only the type species.
Classification and/or Status	Holasteroida, Urechinina, Corystusidae. Subjective synonym of Corystus Pomel, 1883
Remarks	The nomenclatural history of this taxon is complicated and was clarified by Foster & Philip (1976a). They showed Galeraster australiae Cotteau, 1890 to be synonymous with Corystus dysasteroides (Duncan). Cotteau, G. 1890. Échinides nouveaux ou peu connus (9). Memoires de la Société zoologique de France, 3, 537-550, pls 17, 18. Foster, R. J. & Philip, G. M. 1976a. Corystus dysasteroides, a Tertiary holasteroid echinoid formerly known as Duncaniaster australiae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 100, 113-116.