Cidaridae is a family of sea urchins in the order Cidaroida.

Description and characteristics

Cidarid sea urchins are characterized by their stout skeleton : the

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is thick and hard, with massive perforated tubercles (never crenulated) surrounded by a crown of secondary tubercles, but no primary tubercles in the interambulacra regions. These tubercles hold massive spines, thick, strong and often very long, and showing sometimes odd shapes (thorny spines, fans, clubs, Christmas trees...). The order Cidaroida is the basalmost of current sea urchins, and most of the species included in this family are abyssal, even if a handful of species remain quite common in tropical shallow waters, like '' Eucidaris'' or '' Phyllacanthus''.

Genera

According to the

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(WoRMS), the following genera are included in this family * Subfamily '' Cidarinae'' (Mortensen, 1928a) ** Genus ''

Calocidaris ''Calocidaris'' is a genus of echinoderms belonging to the family Cidaridae. The species of this genus are found in Central America. Species: *''Calocidaris micans ''Calocidaris micans'' is a species of sea urchins of the family Cidaridae. ...

'' (H.L. Clark, 1907) ** Genus '' Centrocidaris'' (A. Agassiz, 1904) ** Genus '' Chondrocidaris'' (A. Agassiz, 1863) ** Genus '' Chorocidaris'' (Ikeda, 1941) ** Genus '' Cidaris'' (Leske, 1778) ** Genus '' Compsocidaris'' (Ikeda, 1939) ** Genus '' Eucidaris'' (Pomel, 1883) ** Genus '' Hesperocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1928b) ** Genus '' Kionocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1932) ** Genus '' Lissocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1939) ** Genus '' Tretocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1903b) * Subfamily '' Goniocidarinae'' (Mortensen, 1928a) ** Genus '' Austrocidaris'' (H.L. Clark, 1907) ** Genus '' Goniocidaris'' (Desor, in Agassiz & Desor, 1846) ** Genus '' Ogmocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1921) ** Genus '' Psilocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1927) ** Genus '' Rhopalocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1927) ** Genus '' Schizocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1903b) ** Genus '' Adelcidaris'' (Cotton & Godfrey, 1942) (''nomen dubium'') * Tribe '' Phyllacanthina'' (Smith & Wright, 1989) ** Genus '' Phyllacanthus'' (Brandt, 1835) * Sub-family '' Stereocidarinae'' (Lambert, 1900) ** Genus '' Phalacrocidaris'' (Lambert, 1902) ** Genus '' Stereocidaris'' (Pomel, 1883) * Subfamily '' Stylocidarinae'' (Mortensen, 1903) ** Genus '' Acanthocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1903b) ** Genus '' Plococidaris'' (Mortensen, 1909) ** Genus '' Prionocidaris'' (A. Agassiz, 1863) ** Genus '' Stylocidaris'' (Mortensen, 1909) A now abandoned genus, ''Cidarites'' was used in the late 18th and early 19th century to describe a number of species of both cidarid and echid sea urchins. Image:Eucidaris tribuloides (Slate-pencil Urchin).jpg, '' Eucidaris tribuloides''. Image:Phyllacanthus.jpg, '' Phyllacanthus imperialis'' Image:Plococidaris verticillata.jpg, '' Plococidaris verticillata'' Image:Prionocidaris baculosa.jpg, '' Prionocidaris baculosa'', from Philippines Image:Reef0228.jpg, '' Chondrocidaris gigantea'', from Hawaii Image:Stylocidaris affinis.jpg, '' Stylocidaris affinis'' Image:Cidaroid urchin in Galapagos.jpg, '' Eucidaris galapagensis'' Image:Cidaris blakei.jpg, '' Cidaris blakei'' Image:Goniocidaris umbraculum (USNM E11208) 002.jpeg, '' Goniocidaris umbraculum''

References

The Echinoid Directory : Taxonomy; Natural History Museum, London

Description of the Cidaridae; Natural History Museum, London
* Hansson, H.G. (2001). Echinodermata, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 336–351 {{Taxonbar, from=Q838992 Cisuralian first appearances Extant Permian first appearances Echinoderm families