Diadema (genus)

Diadema is a genus of sea urchins of the Family Diadematidae.[1]

Diadema
Diadema setosum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Echinodermata
Class:
Echinoidea
Order:
Diadematoida
Family:
Diadematidae
Genus:
Diadema

Gray, 1825[1]
Species

Characteristics

It is one of the most abundant, widespread, and ecologically important shallow water genera of tropical sea urchins. It is found in all tropical oceans, although is ubiquitous in the Indo-Pacific region, where it inhabits depths down to 70 m. However each species inhabits roughly separate areas of ocean.

Long-spined urchins Diadema, London Zoo.

Speciation within the genus can be difficult to confirm, partly due to hybridisation, which is at least known to occur between Diadema savignyi and Diadema setosum.

The species vary in types of sea bed they inhabit, with Diadema savignyi inhabiting sandy beds and back reef where damaged; while Diadema setosum can also commonly be found among seagrass.

Fossil record

The fossil record of Diadema is extremely poor, consisting only of spines that possibly belong to the genus, some of which go back to the Miocene, 5 to 25 million years ago.

Species list

According to World Register of Marine Species :

ImageScientific nameDistribution
Diadema africanum (Rodríguez, Hernández, Clemente & Coppard, 2013)Western Africa
Diadema antillarum (Philippi, 1845)Gulf of Mexico
Diadema ascensionis (Mortensen, 1909)Central tropical Atlantic
Diadema mexicanum (Agassiz, 1863)West coast of tropical Americas
Diadema palmeri (Baker, 1967)South-west Pacific, especially New Zealand
Diadema paucispinum (Agassiz, 1863)Central Pacific, and possibly North Indian Ocean and other zones
Diadema savignyi (Michelin, 1845)Tropical Indo-Pacific
Diadema setosum (Leske, 1778)Tropical Indo-Pacific

Fossils
  • Diadema principeana Weisbord, 1934 † (fossil taxon, Eocene from Cuba)
  • Diadema vetus Lambert, 1931c † ( fossil taxon, first appeared in the Miocene in North Africa)
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References
  1. Kroh, A., Mooi, R. (2018). Kroh A, Mooi R (eds.). "Diadema Gray, 1825". World Echinoidea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 8 November 2018.

Bibliography
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