The genera and species of Comatulidae (Comatulida: Crinoidea): taxonomic revisions and a molecular and morphological guide
Author
Summers, Mindi M.
Author
Messing, Charles G.
Author
Rouse, Greg W.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4268
2
151
190
journal article
33045
10.11646/zootaxa.4268.2.1
e114acb7-3683-4094-a53f-c9bc7ed84353
1175-5326
580173
0742D287-B82C-4014-A6AC-C357F259D5D7
Comactinia
AH Clark, 1909
Table 1
Type species.
Comactinia echinoptera
Müller, 1840
.
Other included taxa (3).
Comactinia meridionalis
L. Agassiz, 1865
;
Comactinia meridionalis hartlaubi
Messing, 1978
;
Comactinia titan
Messing, 2003
.
Diagnosis.
Mouth excentric in fully developed individuals; ten arms only, with anterior arms usually longer than posterior; centrodorsal circular, small and thin with cirri always present; IBr2 series united by synarthry; first syzygy at 3+4 on arms arising from IBr; distal intersyzygial interval irregular, 2–10; comb teeth either confluent, with tip truncated or notched and not tapering distally (
Comactinia echinoptera
), or nonconfluent and tapering to a blunt or sharp point (
Comactinia meridionalis
and
C. titan
).
Distribution.
New Caledonia
,
Indonesia
, and the
Philippines
(
Comactinia titan
), and western Atlantic from Cape Lookout,
North
Carolina
, and the
Gulf
of
Mexico
to at least Cabo Frio,
Brazil
. Depth range:
15–373 m
(possibly to
549 m
). Only
Comactinia meridionalis hartlaubi
is chiefly collected below
100 m
(AH
Clark 1931
; Messing 1978).
Remarks.
Comactinia
may be the only genus of
Comatulidae
distributed in both
western Atlantic
(
C. echinoptera
and
C. meridionalis
) and
Indo-western Pacific
waters (
C. titan
) (see
Comissia venustus
below).
Morphological
characters that unite the genus are found in other genera as well: ten arms only, IBr2 united by synarthry, excentric mouth, and combs to P2–P4.
The
notched comb teeth of
C. echinoptera
are unique in the family.
C. meridionalis
, which includes a large, deeper-water subspecies (
C. m. hartlaubi
), is widely variable, occurs over a wide depth range, and may constitute multiple species. A single row of nonconfluent comb teeth distinguishes
C. meridionalis
from other
Atlantic
comatulids.
This
feature, combined with ten arms, separates
Comactinia titan
from
Pacific
comatulids.
Comactinia titan
was previously known only from
New Caledonia
and the
Philippines
(
73–84 m
). During this study, three specimens were collected from ~
15 m
in Raja Ampat
, Indonesia. For further discussion of this genus, see Messing (1978, 2003).
CAPILLASTERINI
AH
Clark, 1909d