Histocidaris elegans (A. Agassiz, 1879)

Fig. 5 A–B.

Porocidaris elegans: A. Agassiz, 1881: 40 . Pl. III, Pl. XXXVIII, Figs 12–16, Pl. XLIV, Figs 6–14.

Histocidaris elegans: Döderlein, 1906: 117 –120. Pl. XIII, Figs 1–3, Pl. XL, Fig. 3; H.L. Clark, 1925a: 37 –38; Mortensen, 1928: 72–77. Pls. I, Figs 1–5, Pl. II, Figs 1–3, Pl. LXVIII, Fig. 6, Pl. LXXV, Fig. 16, Pl. LXXVI, Figs 9–13; Clark & Courtman- Stock, 1976: 215–216; Schultz, 2010: 29, Fig. 49.

Material examined. None, entry based on literature (A22212).

Identification. Test with stout, rigid and round outline with smaller peristome found at the opposite pole of the periproct. Large sparsely-tuberculated apical disc, with ocular plates being exsert. Primary spines long, thin, serrated orally, numerous scrobicular spines.

Global maximum size. Maximum test diameter 67 mm.

Global distribution. South Japan to South Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, 200–2000 m depth (Schultz 2010).

Remark. Represented by one sample (SAMC-A 22212) in the Iziko collection, but this specimen lacks any associated data. It thus seems likely that that specimen is the same one reported on, without locality data, by Mortensen (1932). This species thus remains a dubious record for South Africa and more samples are needed to document its true distribution in South African waters.