Shallow-water brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Araçá Bay (Southeastern Brazil), with spatial distribution considerations Author Alitto, Renata A. S. Author Bueno, Maristela L. Author Guilherme, Pablo D. B. Author Domenico, Maikon Di Author Christensen, Ana Beardsley Author Borges, Michela text Zootaxa 2018 2018-04-06 4405 1 1 66 journal article 30325 10.11646/zootaxa.4405.1.1 55df350b-41c6-4f2e-9a18-c0be6d47498b 1175-5326 3097993 D33BF380-5AF7-4645-86C7-9981C528EAF0 Family OPHIODERMATIDAE Ljungman, 1867 Type taxon. Ophioderma Müller & Troschel, 1840 . Diagnosis. Disc covered dorsally with small plates typically concealed completely by a dense coating of granules in adult specimens. Radial shields evident or not. The granules may cover jaws, oral, and adoral shields. The numerous lateral oral papillae form a continuous series with the apical papillae. Arms inserted laterally into the disc. Arm spines short, usually numerous, and appressed to the side of the arm ( Tommasi 1970 ; Paterson 1985 ; Albuquerque 1986 ; Borges & Amaral 2005 ). Comments. Ophiodermatidae was initially supported for several species with granules and by the presence of numerous lateral oral papillae forming a continuous series with the apical papillae ( Ljungman 1867 ; Borges & Amaral 2005 ). These characteristics are easily confused with Ophiocomidae . Recently, a new defining character was proposed to differentiate the family: dental plate predominantly fragmented into several plates with elongated sockets ( Martynov 2010 ). Ophiodermatidae has also been supported in several recent studies utilizing next-gen sequence-capture methodology ( O’Hara et al . 2014 ; Hugall et al . 2016 ; O’Hara et al . 2017 ). The family is widely distributed bathymetrically and geographically, found down to 2,700 m ( Tommasi 1970 ; Alvarado & Solís-Marín 2013 ). They are members of the epifauna, living on soft bottom, rocky shores, reefs, and in rocky crevices ( Borges & Amaral 2005 ). This family is comprised of 60 species distributed across 11 genera ( O’Hara et al . 2017 ). Seven species of two genera are recorded in Brazil ( Barboza & Borges 2012 ).