Almucidaris falgarsensis

Taxonomy

Urchin

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Cidaroida
Family: Cidaridae
Genus: Almucidaris
Species: Almucidaris falgarsensis
Author Citation (Lambert, 1933)

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Mesozoic
Period: Cretaceous
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Late
International Age: Campanian

Stratigraphy

Terradets Formation

Provenance

Date Collected: 07/17/2020
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Thickness: 32.5 mm
Diameter: 40 mm

Location

Sant Julià de Cerdanyola
Berguedà County
Barcelona Province
Spain

• cidarian
• late campanian
• marsupia
• south east pyrenees

Comments

Almucidaris is a very unusual cidarian genus due to its enlarged plates that form marsupia for breeding. North American paleontologists Blake and Zinsmeister erected the genus in 1991 and described Almucidaris durhami as the type species here.
 

Until now, only two species have been found showing marsupia.

 

In 1933, Lambert first described the species (without marsupia) as Typocidaris falgarsensis here (in French).

 

As the holotype designated by Lambert was lost in the Spanish Civil War in 1997, J. F. Carrasco designated a neotype (also without marsupia) and renamed the species as Temnocidaris (Stereocidaris) falgarsensis here (in Spanish).

 

Finally, A. B. Smith and C. H. Jeffery included the species falgarsensis in the genus Almucidaris in this 2000 paper: Maastrichtian and palaeocene echinoids: a key to world faunas. Special papers in palaentology; 63. p. 30-31. (This paper is not free access, so I can't link it)