Stara, P. & Borghi, E. 2012. First fossil record of the genus Faorina (Echinoidea: Pericosmidae). Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 51/2, 85-98.
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Stara, P.; Borghi, E.
2012
First fossil record of the genus Faorina (Echinoidea: Pericosmidae)
Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana
51(2): 85-98
Publication
Available for editors
A new species of the genus Faorina Gray, 1851 (Echinoidea, Pericosmidae) from the early Miocene of Sardinia, F. maullui
sp. nov., is described. This is the first fossil evidence of Faorina and the first record from the Mediterranean area. The new species differs
from the Recent F. chinensis Gray, 1851, so far considered to be the only valid species of the genus, in having a depressed test, with oblique
posterior face and thinner margin, a different pathway of the peripetalous fasciole and larger periproct. The diagnostic characters stated
in the literature to distinguish Faorina are discussed on the basis of the new material under study, and the meridoplacous structure in the
interambulacrum 1 adorally is herein considered to be the only safe feature to distinguish Faorina from the closely related genus Pericosmus
L. Agassiz, in L. Agassiz & Desor, 1847. Three species from the Miocene of Italy, originally attributed in the literature to the genus Pericosmus,
are transferred into Faorina.