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Toxopneustes

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Genus of sea urchins

Toxopneustes
Temporal range: Pliocene–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
The flower urchin (Toxopneustes pileolus) is potentially dangerous to humans
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Camarodonta
Family: Toxopneustidae
Genus: Toxopneustes
L. Agassiz, 1841
Type species
Echinus pileolus
Lamarck, 1816
Synonyms
  • Boletia L. Agassiz, 1841

Toxopneustes is a genus of sea urchins from the tropical Indo-Pacific. It contains four species. They are known to possess medically significant venom to humans on their pedicellariae (tiny claw-like structures). They are sometimes collectively known as flower urchins, after the most widespread and most commonly encountered species in the genus, the flower urchin (Toxopneustes pileolus).

Species

Species included in the genus are the following:

Image Scientific name Description Distribution
Toxopneustes elegans Döderlein, 1885 Can be distinguished by the presence of a distinctive dark stripe just below the tips of their spines. Restricted to waters around Japan.
Toxopneustes maculatus (Lamarck, 1816) Can be distinguished by bright violet coloration on the bottom and in a band around the middle of their tests. Very rare species found in the Indo-West Pacific. Known only from specimens from Réunion, Christmas Island, and the Palmyra Atoll.
Toxopneustes pileolus (Lamarck, 1816) Can be distinguished by variegated red, grey, green, or purple coloration of their tests. Common and widespread in the Indo-West Pacific, from East Africa to the Cook Islands.
Toxopneustes roseus (A. Agassiz, 1863) Can be distinguished by the uniform coloration of their tests of pink, brown, or purple. Restricted to the East Pacific, along the coasts of California, Mexico, Central America, and part of South America (including the Galapagos Islands).

Gallery

References

  1. ^ Andreas Kroh (2014). Kroh A, Mooi R (eds.). "Toxopneustes pileolus (Lamarck, 1816)". World Echinoidea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  2. Wolfgang Bücherl & Eleanor E. Buckley (2013). Venomous Animals and Their Venoms: Venomous Invertebrates. Elsevier. pp. 427, 431. ISBN 9781483262895.
  3. Alexander Agassiz & Hubert Lyman Clark (1912). "Hawaiian and Other Pacific Echini: The Pedinidae, Phymosomatidae, Stomopneustidae, Echinidae, Temnopleuridae, Strongylocentrotidae, and Echinometridae". Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College. 34 (4): 207–383.
  4. Hubert Lyman Clark (1925). A Catalogue of the Recent Sea-Urchins (Echinoidea) in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Oxford University Press. pp. 122–123.
Taxon identifiers
Toxopneustes


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