Annotated species list of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, with new records
Author
Fatemi, Yaser
Author
Stöhr, Sabine
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-12-13
4711
1
77
106
journal article
24630
10.11646/zootaxa.4711.1.3
b79b7881-13e6-45d7-bec6-3105c1847cf5
1175-5326
3573466
93D1AB7B-26C2-427D-88A7-5D416E547BE0
Macrophiothrix hirsuta cheneyi
(
Lyman, 1861
)
Fig. 7
Ophiothrix cheneyi
Lyman, 1861: 84
.
Macrophiothrix hirsuta cheneyi
—A. M.
Clark 1968: 284–285
, 296–298.
Material examined:
Gulf of
Oman
,
Iran
, Tis, intertidal, hand collected,
January 2019
, collector Yaser Fatemi, 6 spms,
11.3–17.4 mm
dd [SMNH-178934]. Red Sea, collector Jägerskiöld 1901, 3 spms [SMNH-
170461
].
Zanzibar
, 2 spms [SMNH-169872].
Habitat:
Under rocks on mixed rock and sand tidal flat,
0–5 m
(
Price 1983
;
Jones 1986
;
Khalegi
et al.
2015
;
Attaran Fariman
et al.
2016
; present study).
Persian Gulf and Gulf of
Oman
: Tis (16), Tarut Bay (25), Kuwait (ibid.) (
Fig. 2E
).
Indian Ocean:
Tanzania
(
Ludwig 1899
),
Mozambique
(
Balinsky 1957
), Red Sea (
Clark 1968
),
South Africa
and
Tanzania
(
Clark & Courtman-Stock 1976
), east African coast, Red Sea (
Clark & Rowe 1971
),
Mozambique
(
Clark 1980
).
Remarks:
This subspecies has a light longitudinal line along the arms, bordered by thinner dark lines. These are absent in the other subspecies
M
.
hirsuta hirsuta
, which appears to be restricted to the
Red Sea
and adjacent Indian Ocean (
Clark 1968
).
Hoggett (1990)
and A. M.
Clark (1968)
pointed out that
M
.
hirsuta cheneyi
and
M
.
elongata
are similar in morphology and geographical distribution. According to A. M.
Clark (1968)
the arm length differs (
20x
dd in
M
.
elongata
,
10x
in
M
.
h
.
cheneyi
), and
Hoggett (1990)
points out that the tuberculous dorsal arm plates in
M
.
hirsuta
and its subspecies are a distinguishing character. Our specimens have arms about 8–
9x
dd long and tuberculous arm plates. Consecutive dorsal arm plates are also broadly in contact with one another, which has been suggested to differentiate
M
.
h
.
cheneyi
from
M
.
h
.
hirsuta
(
Price 1983
)
. All records of
M
.
hirsuta
from the study area are most likely
M
.
hirsuta cheneyi
. Whether the subspecific division of
M
.
hirsuta
should be maintained needs to be examined further, preferably including molecular techniques.
Records of
M
.
hirsuta
from East Africa by
Ludwig (1899)
and
Balinsky (1957)
were referred to
M
.
hirsuta cheneyi
by A. M.
Clark (1968)
. The record of
M
.
elongata
by
Attaran-Fariman
et al
. (2016)
is included here after re-identification based on their images.