Talk:Stigmosphaerostylus

Discussion

Aitchison & Stratford (1997) regarded the widely-used name Entactinia introduced by Foreman (1963) as a junior synonym of Stigmosphaerostylus Rüst and proposed Foreman’s diagnosis as an amendment. According to the original diagnosis of the genus Stigmosphaerostylus by Rüst (1892, p. 142), representatives that possessed one latticed shell with radial spines and an internal spicule constructed of radial rays were assigned to this genus. The description of the only recognized species S. notabilis defines the inner structure of this taxon:the inner spicule is constructed of six rays combined in one center (Rüst 1892, taf. X, fig. 2). Foreman’s (1963,p. 271) original diagnosis for Entactinia is: “A single well-developed latticed or spongy shell (sometimes with external spongy material) and an internal six-rayed double spicule more delicate than the main spines.” It should be noted that most of described species in recent literature assigned to Stigmosphaerostylus Rüst (S. ornata (Hinde), S. pussila (Hinde), S. etheridgei (Hinde),S. hystricuosa (Aitchison), S. variospina (Won) are characterized by a six-rayed double internal spicule and one latticed shell (Aitchison & Stratford 1997, Aitchison et al. 1999, Braun & Budil 1999, Wang et al. 2000, Luo et al. 2002).