Micrasterina Fisher, 1966

Holmes, Francis C., Yee, Christopher Ah & Krause, Janice, 2005, Two new Middle Miocene spatangoids (Echinoidea) from the Murray Basin, South Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1), pp. 91-99 : 92

Suborder Micrasterina Fisher, 1966

Family Incertae sedis

Remarks. The combination of generic features, particularly the presence of a marginal ‘peripetalous’ fasciole, intermittent horizontal fasciole bands and a rudimentary non re-entrant peripetalous fasciole clear of the distal ends of paired petals, clearly distinguish the new genus Murraypneustes from virtually all other taxa assigned to the Micrasterina , in particular the 22 genera included in the Asterostomatidae Fisher, 1966 . Only one of these genera, Asterostoma Agassiz, 1847 , has tentatively been retained in the Asterostomatidae (together with Stomaporus Cotteau, 1888 , a genus originally assigned to the Brissidae Gray, 1855 ) by Smith et al. (2003). Of the remaining 21 genera, Smith et al. have conditionally reassigned 13 to other families, only six of which are included in the Micrasterina . The remaining eight are listed as incertae sedis or as belonging to an unnamed taxon. Until a detailed revision of these latter genera is published, it is considered imprudent to assign the new genus to a specific family.