Temnopleurus toreumaticus (Leske, 1778)

Arachchige, Gayashan M., Jayakody, Sevvandi, Mooi, Rich & Kroh, Andreas, 2019, An annotated species list of regular echinoids from Sri Lanka with notes on some rarely seen temnopleurids, Zootaxa 4571 (1), pp. 35-57 : 43

Temnopleurus toreumaticus (Leske, 1778)

Figure 5

Material studied. WUSL/ER/259, 260, 261 (wet, with spines) and WUSL/ER/95, 262, 263, 264 (dry, with spines) from Nagadeepaya; WUSL/ER/265, 266 (wet, with spines) and WUSL/ER/267 (dry, with spines) from Mandathiv; WUSL/ER/268 (wet, with spines) and WUSL/ER/269, 270 (dry, with spines) from Point Pedro.

Literature records for Sri Lanka. Agassiz & Desor (1846), Agassiz (1872), Bell (1887), Anderson (1894), Herdman et al. (1904), Clark (1915, 1925), Koehler (1927).

Distribution in Sri Lanka. Northern and southern coasts of Sri Lanka.

Recorded depth range in Sri Lanka. 9–66 m (previous records).

Habitat. Bottoms consisting of “ Orbitolites sand, some dead coral, shells and pieces of Nullipore ” [sic] ( Herdman et al. 1904).

Observed occurrence in this study. Fish landing sites at Mandathiv, Nagadeepa, and Point Pedro on the northern coast of Sri Lanka.

Remarks. This species can be distinguished from other Sri Lankan temnopleurids in having conspicuous, deep, long furrows along the plate sutures (so-called sutural pits). These furrows extend horizontally to the bases of the primary tubercles ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Test features and spines of Temnopleurus toreumaticus (WUSL/ER/95): A, aboral view (with spines); B, oral view (with spines); C, lateral view; D, adapical ambulacrum; E, adapical interambulacrum.