Revision of the genus Ophioteichus H. L. Clark, 1938 (Ophiuroidea: Ophiolepididae)
Author
Pineda-Enriquez, Tania
Author
Solis-Marin, Francisco A.
Author
Laguarda-Figueras, Alfredo
text
Zootaxa
2014
3784
3
241
250
journal article
46110
10.11646/zootaxa.3784.3.3
387c7ad0-0415-4506-95ac-328af4c0d99e
1175-5326
227855
B8060DE4-3F37-4801-B428-B0C473F8CE80
Genus
Ophioteichus
H.L. Clark, 1938
Diagnosis (modified after
H.L. Clark, 1938
).
The disc is circular in outline and hemispherical in shape, thicker than the arms; covered with a coat of numerous scales which are smooth and more or less swollen; surrounded by belts of very small flat scales, with the marginal plates of the interradii greatly elevated into three or four tubercles and forming a low rampart around the disc. Accessory dorsal and ventral arm plates are present, which could be fragmented or not. A series of small pores occurs between the lateral margins of mature dorsal arm plates and the adjoining lateral arm plates. Oral papillae six, plus an unpaired conical papillae. The oral shield is wider than long, the proximal margin is pointed with concave sides, the lateral margin are convex and the distal margin is concave. Two or three tentacle scales per segment. Arm spines four to twelve, delicate, wide and overlapping laterally. The arm base is not conspicuously widened.
Remarks.
The genus
Ophioteichus
is currently placed in the Family
Ophiuridae
but following
Fell (1960)
it must be placed in the Family
Ophiolepididae
, which currently includes 14 other genera (http:// www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea/ [
Stöhr and O’Hara, 2013
]).