Ophionereis dolabriformis John & A.M. Clark, 1954

Gondim, Anne I., Alonso, Carmen, Dias, Thelma L. P., Manso, Cynthia L. C. & Christoffersen, Martin L., 2013, A taxonomic guide to the brittle-stars (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea) from the State of Paraiba continental shelf, Northeastern Brazil, ZooKeys 307, pp. 45-96 : 63-64

Ophionereis dolabriformis John & A.M. Clark, 1954 Figure 10 a–e

Description.

Disk circular to pentaradial (dd = 3.20 to 5.09 mm). Covered dorsally by imbricating scales of different sizes (Fig. 10a). Radial shields small, narrow, trian gular (Fig. 10a). Pentaradial olive-green colour pattern on dorsal surface of disk (Fig. 10a). Bursal slits long and without genital papillae (Fig. 10b). Oral shields arrowhead-shaped, partially covering the adoral shields (Fig. 10c). Adoral shields united proximally and enlarged distally. Four oral papillae on each side of jaw angle (Fig. 10c). Dorsal arm plate longer than wide, distal region strongly convex (Fig. 10d). Ventral arm plate rectangular, lateral margins concave, distal margin enlarged and slightly convex (Fig. 10e). Single large, oval, tentacle scale. Three elongate arm spines, needle-shaped (Fig. 10d, e), fully denticulate. Olive-green stripe on 1 to 2 ½ dorsal arm segments.

Distribution.

Caribbean coast of Mexico and Colombia, Venezuela ( A.M. Clark 1953, Thomas 1973, Pomory 2007, Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), and Brazil, from Paraíba and Bahia ( Gondim et al. 2010). From 14 to 97 m. Found in this study between 14 and 35 m.

Remarks.

Ophionereis dolabriformis seems to be a rare species, with a high tolerance of river influence ( Gondim et al. 2010). Gondim et al. (2010) noted that this species may present variations in the design of the disc patterns, but the pentaradial pattern was maintained, and could be completely uniform, or empty, or with the pattern rays being connected by fine lines.