Some living and fossil echinoderms from the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, and two new echinoid species

Abstract

Starfish and sea-urchin records of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, are scattered throughout the literature of the past 160 years. This paper lists the region's valid starfish and sea-urchin species records contained in the literature. In addition, records of 17 species of starfish and sea-urchins from material in the Department of Geology, Australian National University and the East New Britain Historical and Cultural Centre collections are included, with descriptions of two new sea-urchin species, the schizasterid Schizaster (Paraster) ovatus sp. nov. and the echinometrid Heliocidaris robertsi sp. nov. Some Tertiary echinoids from the region are described for the first time, namely Stereocidaris cf. squamosa Mortensen 1928 (Lower-Middle Miocene: Manus Island), Stereocidaris sp. (Pliocene: east New Britain), Phyllacanthus sp. (Pliocene: east New Britain) and Echinoneus sp. (Pleistocene-Holocene: Tanga Group, New Ireland).