Calyptraster personatus ( Perrier, 1885c )

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 58

Calyptraster personatus ( Perrier, 1885c)

Reports for the Azores:

Cryptaster personatus , $ Perrier, 1885c: 70, 1894: 191, pl. 14, fig. 3; Mortensen 1927a: 101;

Calyptraster personatus ( Perrier, 1885c) — Madsen 1947: 3–7, figs. 1–2; $ Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972: 383; $ Clark & Downey 1992: 309–310, pl. 75, figs. C–D; Downey 1973: 80, pl. 35, figs. C, D; Sibuet 1975: 108; Dilman 2014: 34;

non Calyptraster coa Sladen, 1882 — Walenkamp 1979: 64–72, figs. 19, 23–25, pl. 14 [fidé Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972].

Type locality: Azores (38°38’00”N, 25°05’46”W) .

See: Downey (1973); A.M. Clark & Downey (1992).

Occurrence: Atlantic, in the west recorded to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean waters (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992) and in the east from the Gulf of Cadiz ( Madsen 1947) to the Gulf of Guinea ( Sibuet 1975), including the Azores ( Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972).

Depth: 2,151 –6,560 m (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992); AZO: 2,871 – 2,995 m ( Perrier, 1894, Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972).

Habitat: soft sediments ( Perrier 1894).

Remarks: Perrier (1894) described a monotypic genus Cryptaster to accommodate C. personatus from the Azores. Madsen (1947) believed that this species was conspecific with Calyptraster coa Sladen, 1882 from the south-east of Pernambuco ( Brazil), distinguished only by a strongly musculated dorsal membrane. Madsen argued that the diagnosing characters selected by Sladen in the genus Calyptraster (which it was also monotypic at the time) had no generic value (and possible also no specific value) and established the synonymy with Perrier’s genus Cryptaster . Nonetheless, Madsen kept C. coa and C. personatus separated, as he believed that further studies should be conducted before considering these as geographic varieties of the same species. Walenkamp (1979) compared Sladen’ syntypes and his own specimens from Guyana with C. personatus specimens from Bay of Cadiz ( Madsen 1947) and from Gulf of Guinea ( Sibuet 1975) and found all to be identical. Walenkamp also assumed that the material reported from the Azores by Cherbonnier & Sibuet (1972; Jean Charcot, Noratlante cruise, sta P. 65, B10: 36°58’2”N, 26°20’W, 2,871 m) belonged to C. coa . On the re-examination of the type material of C. personatus, A.M. Clark & Downey (1992: 308) found Perrier’s original description of this species misleading and reinstated the species status. A.M. Clark & Downey (1992) also commented on the apparent bathymetric partition between these species, as C. coa occurs at depths shallower than 1,000 m whereas C. personatus occurs at depths below 2,000 m. Thus, the report of the western C. coa to the Azores is erroneous.