Ophiosphalma archaster (Wyville-Thomson, 1878)

Baker, Alan N., 2016, An illustrated catalogue of type specimens of the bathyal brittlestar genera Ophiomusium Lyman and Ophiosphalma H. L. Clark (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea), Zootaxa 4097 (1), pp. 1-40 : 26

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4097.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CD767562-3A19-4F4C-914D-80C50AD0D250
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6056501
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C57E0C-A765-ED3D-B0CD-FE4AFA9BA638
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Ophiosphalma archaster (Wyville-Thomson, 1878)
status

Treatment

Ophiosphalma archaster (Wyville-Thomson, 1878) , in Lyman, 1878.

Figures 40 a, b

Ophiomusium archaster Wyville-Thomson 1878 ; H. L. Clark, 1915.

Holotype BMNH 82-12-23 -364 HMS Challenger station 323 off Montevideo 3475 m.

Main Features: Disc 10 mm d.d., plates finely granular, 5 large round plates encircle a single primary. All are finely granular. Radial shields oval, similar size to ventral plates, and widely separated by 4–5 smaller plates. Oral papillae joined. Triangular oral shield with much smaller interradial plates distad. Genital slits run to middle of first lateral arm plate. Three exposed tentacle pores. 4 small arm spines. A second non-type specimen, 23 mm d.d. is in the same jar and is completely covered with thick skin, its plates only just visible. This is possibly an artefact. The arms are hardly at all constricted between segments, as in the type. Three pairs of exposed tentacle pores.