Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (2): 291–358 Analysis of some astriclypeids (Echinoidea Clypeast- eroida) Paolo Stara1* & Luigi Sanciu2 1Centro Studi di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo - Museo di Storia Naturale Aquilegia, Via Italia 63, Pirri-Cagliari and Geomuseo Monte Arci, Masullas, Oristano, Sardinia, Italy; e-mail:
[email protected] *Corresponding author The systematic position of some astriclypeid species assigned through times to the genera Amphiope L. Agassiz, 1840 and Echinodiscus Leske, 1778 is reviewed based on the plating ABSTRACT pattern characteristics of these two genera universally accepted, and on the results of new studies. A partial re-arrangement of the family Astriclypeidae Stefanini, 1912 is herein pro- posed, with the institution of Sculpsitechinus n. g. and Paraamphiope n. g., both of them char- acterized by a peculiar plating-structure of the interambulacrum 5 and of the ambulacra I and V. Some species previously attributed to Amphiope and Echinodiscus are transferred into these two new genera. Two new species of Astriclypeidae are established: Echinodiscus andamanensis n. sp. and Paraamphiope raimondii n. sp. Neotypes are proposed for Echin- odiscus tenuissimus L. Agassiz, 1840 and E. auritus Leske, 1778, since these species were still poorly defined, due to the loss of the holotypes and, for E. auritus, also to the unclear geographical/stratigraphical information about the type-locality. A number of additional nom- inal fossil and extant species of "Echinodiscus" needs revision based on the same method. KEY WORDS Astriclypeidae; Amphiope; Paraamphiope; Echinodiscus; Sculpsitechinus; Oligo-Miocene. Received 28.02.2014; accepted 14.03.2014; printed 30.06.2014 Paolo Stara (ed.). Studies on some astriclypeids (Echinoidea Clypeasteroida), pp.