Ophiacanthidae

Nethupul, Hasitha, Stöhr, Sabine & Zhang, Haibin, 2022, New species, redescriptions and new records of deep-sea brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the South China Sea, an integrated morphological and molecular approach, European Journal of Taxonomy 810 (1), pp. 1-95 : 79

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.

Figures

Fig. 47. Family Ophiacanthidae Ljungman, 1867, Maximum likelihood (ML) trees based on partial 16S and COI sequences (bootstrap support values were generated with rapid bootstrapping algorithm for 1000 replicates). A. 16S ML. B. COI ML. Abbreviations: C = Clade; IC = Inter-Clade; NZ = New Zealand; SC = Sub Clade; SCS = South China Sea; TS = Tasman Sea.