Elpidia

Théel, 1876

14 species

Body ovoid, skin stiff from numerous calcareous deposits. Mouth ventral. 10 tentacles. Tube feet of lateral ambulacra few, equally distributed along the whole edge of body. Dorsal papillae 3 anterior and 1 posterior pair, not united by a web. Wheels infrequent. Calcareous rods pointed and with some long median processes. (Mortensen, 1927)

Tentacle discs with long and slender retractile processes. Tube feet, 4-5 pair, large, well spaced and equal in size. Papillae separate, present throughout the length of the dorsal radii, or distributed into an anterior and posterior group. Deposits; rod shaped with two pairs of obliquely placed horizontal arms and two vertical, pointed apophyses. Calcareous ring strong and continuous, each piece with four pairs of arms. (Hansen, 1975)