Arbacia lixula var. africana Troschel |
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Family: Arbaciidae |
Order: Arbacioida |
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Locality: unknown |
Dimensions: 30 Ø x 15 mm |
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Key to the species
of the genus Arbacia (acc. to Mortensen,
A Monograph of the
Echinoidea, II, page 566) |
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1. |
A conspicuous
naked zone in the interambulacra on aboral side. |
2. |
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2. |
Colour of the denuded test greenish. |
A. dufresnei,
p. 579 |
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3. |
Conspicuous red spots
in interambulacra on aboral side. |
A. stellata,
p. 575 |
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4. |
Cleaned test reddish. |
A. lixula
var. africana, p. 570 |
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5. |
Inner interambulacral tubercles on aboral side conspicuously smaller than those of the adradial series (West Coast of S.
America). Inner interambulacral tubercles on aboral side of the same size
of those of the adradial series (East Coast of N. America and West Indies). |
A.spatuligera, p. 577 A. punctulata,
p. 573 |
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6. |
Test greenish. |
A. crassispina,
p. 580 |
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Following this key the above urchin could easily be a true A. lixula africana. On the other hand Mortensen had a slight doubt, if the differences - the naked aboral interambulacral zone and the fewer tubercles in the horizontal series - would hold good compared with A. lixula. But, as the locality is unknown, I cannot be sure, that it is A. lixula at all. If one considers the test as "not reddish", it could be A. punctulata!