Morphological diagnoses of higher taxa in Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) in support of a new classification
Author
Stöhr, Sabine
Author
Hugall, Andrew F.
Author
Thuy, Ben
Author
Martynov, Alexander
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2018
2018-03-21
416
1
35
journal article
22339
10.5852/ejt.2018.416
2eebb037-4ab1-433c-a9f6-8fe319e9fda9
3806109
AD094812-5768-43E9-BCC2-9226E69F0820
Family
Ophiomyxidae
Ljungman, 1867
Synonym
Ophiarachninae
Matsumoto, 1915: 83
.
Type
genus
Ophiomyxa
Müller & Troschel, 1842
(
type
species:
O
.
pentagona
(
Lamarck, 1816
))
.
Other genera
Neoplax
Bell, 1884
,
Ophiarachna
Müller & Troschel, 1842
,
Ophioconis
Lütken, 1869
,
Ophiostiba
Matsumoto, 1915
,
Ophiurochaeta
Matsumoto, 1915
.
Diagnosis
Dorsal disc covered with granules or naked thickened skin, scales reduced in
Ophiomyxa
. Dental plate fragmented, sockets with flat borders, not penetrating.
Ophiarachna
with small ventral tooth cluster. Hyaline, large, flat, serrated teeth in
Ophiomyxa
and
Ophioconis
. Lateral arm plates reminiscent of an upside-down Y-shape. Arm spine articulation without sigmoidal fold. Arm spine articulations generally larger than in
Ophiodermatidae
and
Ophiopezidae
fam. nov. and in shallower notches or on same level as plate stereom (
Ophiomyxa
), of rounded shape with smooth stereom.
Remarks
Ophiomyxa
has a specialized morphology with many reductions of the skeleton and is thus not typical for this family but the name has priority.
Ophiocanopidae
Mortensen, 1932
was synonymized with
Ophiomyxidae
by Stöhr
et al.
(2008) but
Ophiocanops
is now a member of
Ophiacanthidae
.