Astropyga magnifica A.H. Clark, 1934

Gondim, Anne Isabelley, Moura, Rafael Bendayan De, Christoffersen, Martin Lindsey & Dias, Thelma Lúcia Pereira, 2018, Taxonomic guide and historical review of echinoids (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) from northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 4529 (1), pp. 1-72 : 15-17

Astropyga magnifica A.H. Clark, 1934

Astropyga magnifica A.H. Clark, 1934: 52 –53.– Magalhães et al., 2005: 63.– Lima & Fernandes, 2009: 57 –58, fig. 1.– Martins et al., 2012a: 55, 57.

Material examined. No specimens available for study.

Description (modified from A.H. Clark 1934, Mortensen 1940 and Hendler et al. 1995). Test large, very low, fairly flexible and slightly pentagonal in dorsal view. Apical system monocyclic. Genital plates large, triangular, projecting strongly interradially. Ocular plates small and rectangular. Periproct covered marginally by small and variably shaped plates. Anal cone without plates. Ambulacra slightly swollen. Ambulacral plating trigeminate, with pairs of pores arranged in arches. Ambulacral plates closest to peristome without primary tubercles. Interambulacra wide, broadest at middle height of test, with extensive, naked, Y-shaped areas on aboral surface. Primary spines long, thin, fragile, verticillate, banded with reddish-brown and whitish-yellow stripes, and filled with calcite meshwork. Secondary spines similar to primary spines, but weaker and thinner. Tubercles perforate and crenulate. Number of tubercles increases towards peristome. Peristome covered by small, fragile, broadened plates.

Pedicellariae (modified from Mortensen 1940). Claviform pedicellariae well-developed. Tridentate pedicellariae small, with very narrow valves. Triphyllous pedicellariae as in A. pulvinata ( Lamarck, 1816) and A. radiata ( Leske, 1778) . For more detail, see Mortensen (1940: 206, pl. LXX, figs 4–6).

Colour. Naked areas of test golden yellow. Brown ambulacra bordered by single rows of brilliant, iridescent blue spots. The inflated anal cone is bluish white, with a brown peripheral ring and a dark brown anus. The spines are banded in reddish brown and yellowish white ( Hendler et al. 1995). Juvenile can be pink-reddish with green spines banded by red stripes ( Humann & Deloach 2002).

Distribution. North Carolina, South Carolina, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Belize, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Surinam, and Brazil (Espinosa et al. 1997; del Valle García et al. 2005; Laguarda-Figueras et al. 2005a; Alvarado et al. 2008; Solís-Marín et al. 2013; Rodríguez-Barreras 2014). In Brazil from PE, BA, and SC ( Magalhães et al. 2005; Lima & Fernandes 2009). From 2 to 89 m depth ( Solís-Marín et al. 2013; Rodríguez-Barreras 2014).

Remarks. A.H. Clark (1934) described A. magnifica on the basis of four specimens collected 88 m south of Dry Tortugas. Presently, two species are known from the coast of Brazil [ A. magnifica and A. nuptialis Tommasi, 1958b ]. The first is widely distributed, from North Carolina to southern Brazil, while records of the second are restricted to São Paulo and Santa Catarina. Tommasi (unpublished data) considers A. magnifica and A. nuptialis synonyms. We reach the same conclusion on the basis of comparisons between published descriptions. However, a more detailed comparison involving type material is necessary. According to A.H. Clark (1934), juveniles of A. magnifica resemble A. pulvinata more closely than the adults.

Ecological notes. This species, called the "king urchin" in Brazil, lives in sheltered habitats with sandy substrates, fragments of calcareous algae, gravel and calcareous outcrops. It has also been observed in muddy substrates and in meadows of Halophila decipiens Ostenfeld, 1902 (del Valle García et al. 2005). Astropyga magnifica is rarely observed in situ in Brazil, although it seems to have a patchy distribution and to be gregarious in some Caribbean localities ( Hendler et al. 1995). Kier & Grant (1965) observed it moving across the sand flats in groups of two to five, at a speed of approximately 3 feet per minute, concluding that it is highly mobile. Lessios (1990) considered egg size and recorded mean values of 104.04 µm for the longest axis and 5.59×10 5 µm 3 for egg volume. Mortensen (1940) and De Ridder & Lawrence (1982) recorded shell fragments in the stomach contents. Commensal species, mainly shrimps, have been recorded ( Kier & Grant 1965). Williams et al. (1986) reported an event of mass mortality of this species in the shallow-waters on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico in the winter of 1984–1985. Since then, no similar event has been reported in the literature. Between the years of 1996 and 2005, 226 specimens were captured along the littoral of the State of Bahia by aquarium hobbyists ( Martins et al. 2012a).