The East Pacific / South Pacific Boundary: New taxa and occurrences from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), New Caledonia and adjacent regions
Author
Mah, Christopher L.
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-06-02
4980
3
401
450
journal article
5948
10.11646/zootaxa.4980.3.1
f36e1c1f-1bfa-4fbc-b2dd-5edf6c7173af
1175-5326
4896889
F1FCA8AC-A984-4547-8A05-F1993BDAEE7C
Hacelia
Gray, 1840
Gray 1840: 284
[as
Ophidiaster
(
Hacelia
)
Agassiz, 1836b
].
Ludwig 1897: 209
; H.L.
Clark 1921: 36
;
Clark & Downey 1992: 271
(as
Hacelia
).
Comments.
Hacelia
is a genus of
Ophidiasteridae
, which includes six species, two in the Atlantic, one from
South Africa
, and the remaining three in the tropical Pacific, all occurring at moderate depths,
40–
200 m
.
Hacelia
has granule-covered, abactinal plates arranged in regular longitudinal series in ten rows rather than eight and six as in
Ophidiaster
and
Tamaria
, respectively. In a manner similar to the differences between
Ophidiaster
and
Tamaria
, the boundaries between genera, such as
Ophidiaster
and
Hacelia
can be problematic depending on the definitions of how “full longitudinal row” is defined.