New species, redescriptions and new records of deep-sea brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the South China Sea, an integrated morphological and molecular approach Author Nethupul, Hasitha 947FC889-2FAA-465B-8F4C-93E4DF21BD00 Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS, 57200 Sanya, China. & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China. Nethupul@idsse.ac.cn Author Stöhr, Sabine 412800EB-AACE-4313-9810-61F89B740405 Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Zoology, Box 50007, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden. sabine.stohr@nrm.se Author Zhang, Haibin 42C09E82-18C5-446D-B4F4-A2C8F2367AC9 Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS, 57200 Sanya, China. hzhang@idsse.ac.cn text European Journal of Taxonomy 2022 2022-04-06 810 1 1 95 http://zoobank.org/67e0ccf7-f768-4c5f-9f02-55ebffadd3d5 journal article 10.5852/ejt.2022.810.1723 58fbfe9f-852b-493c-9611-822354c5a2a8 2118-9773 6419522 67E0CCF7-F768-4C5F-9F02-55EBFFADD3D5 Family Ophiacanthidae Final 449 bp COI and 487 bp 16S sequences were obtained after removing ambiguous aligned sites and successfully used in reconstructing Maximum Likelihood (ML) trees of 16S ( 8 specimens ) and COI ( 7 specimens ), respectively ( Fig. 47 ). In the 16S ML tree, species from the South China Sea divided into two subclades (Sub-Clades 01 and 02). Ophiurothamnus clausa , Ophiomoeris petalis sp. nov. , Ophiomoeris sp. , Ophiacantha aster sp. nov. and Ophioplinthaca plicata from the present study fell into Sub-Clade 01. Ophiacantha vorax , O. bathybia and Ophientrema scolopendrica from the present study fell into Sub-Clade 02. The genus Ophioplinthaca fell into a new interclade within Sub-Clade 01 (Inter-Clade 1B). Inter-Clade 1A consists of three different genera: Ophiacantha , Ophiomoeris and Ophiurothamnus . Ophientrema scolopendrica , Ophiacantha bathybia and O. vorax also fell into two interclades within Sub-Clade 02 (Inter-Clades 2A and 2B) ( Fig. 47A ). The clades in the COI ML tree were grouped corresponding to the 16S ML tree. Therefore, all the species represented in the COI ML belong to the main Clade 02. Ophiurothamnus clausa and Ophioplinthaca plicata from the South China Sea fell into Sub-Clade 01. Ophiacantha vorax and Ophientrema scolopendrica from the South China Sea fell into Sub-Clade 02. The genus Ophioplinthaca fell into Inter-Clade 1B within Sub-Clade 01 ( Fig. 47B ). The topology of the two ML trees was slightly different from each other (Sub-Clade 01). Genetic distance values are provided in Suppl. file 7 and Suppl. file 8.