Callopatiria cabrinovici, O'Loughlin, 2009

O'Loughlin, P. Mark, 2009, New asterinid species from Africa and Australia (Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Asterinidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 66 (2), pp. 203-213 : 207-210

Callopatiria cabrinovici sp. nov.

Figure 4a–f

Material examined. Holotype: East Africa , Zanzibar, M. Angel, NHM 1965.6.1.743 (dry).

Paratypes: type series, NHM 1965.6.1.744 (1); East Africa , Zanzibar, Mazizini, rocky outcrop, M.D. Richmond, 1993, NHM 2004.2833 (1, dry); Zanzibar, C. Crossland, NHM 1903.4.2.61–62 (2); Kenya, Watamu, Ras Ngomeni, W.F. Humphreys, 1 Apr 1969, NHM 1979.2.5.147 (1); Watamu, rock platform, sub-littoral, W.F.Humphreys, 9 Sep 1969, NHM 1979.2.5.146 (2) .

Other material. Callopatiria cabrinovici sp. nov. Kenya, Shimoni, J.D. Taylor, NHM 1973.10.4.48 (1) ; Zanzibar, Dr Kirk, NHM 68.3.6.13 (1); N Oman, Khesab Bay , coral reef, P. Cornelius, 30 Dec 1971, NHM 1972.4.10.57 (1) .

Callopatiria granifera ( Gray, 1847) . South Africa, Western Cape Province, NMV F98049 (1, donation to NMV by A. Thandar).

Description. Rays 5, discrete, subdigitiform, narrow base, tapering to point or narrowly rounded end, broadly flat actinally, acute angular margin, sides steep, close to perpendicular, high convex abactinally; size large, rays unequal, up to R = 27–35 mm; integument evident; conspicuous single madreporite, not fissiparous; lacking pedicellariae; complete series of internal superambulacral plates; interradial margin supported by numerous internal superactinal plates; superambulacral and superactinal plates contiguous on actinal internal surface for most of ray length; inner resinous brown lining to ray; gonopores not observed.

Abactinal: plates thick, imbricate, angled; disc weakly delineated in larger specimens, disc boundary typically 5 transversely elongate radials each with narrow band of up to about 50 spinelets, 5 small interradials; lacking carinal series of plates; longitudinal band (“field”) of primary and secondary upper ray plates, irregular in arrangement and form, plates with shallow concave indentation for single papula, crescentiform, not sharply notched; papulate areas extensive, papular spaces large, predominantly 1 large papula per space, secondary plates numerous, frequently 1 per papular space; up to 5 longitudinal series of plates and papulae along each side of rays, frequently in transverse series also; spinelets glassy, columnar, thick to thin, splay-pointed, frequently widened terminally, some narrowed terminally; up to about 40 spinelets in narrow band 2–3 spinelets wide across projecting edge of proximal ray plates, spinelets not in discrete tufts; proximal ray spinelets up to about 0.4 mm long; distal interradius with up to about 16 splayed spinelets per plate, ends rarely overlapping those of adjacent plates; glassy convexities sometimes evident around base of plates.

Margin: superomarginal and inferomarginal plates in regular series; inferomarginals noticeably larger than superomarginals; inferomarginals project only slightly; alignment of superomarginals with inferomarginals frequently broken by presence of additional superomarginal plate; superomarginals with up to about 16 typical abactinal spinelets; inferomarginals with up to about 26 spinelets, proximally similar to superomarginal spinelets, distally stout digitiform.

Actinal:plates in longitudinal series parallel to ambulacrum; adradial actinal plates in complete series. Actinal spines per plate: oral 6, thick wedge-like proximally, slight gradation in size from proximal to distal; suboral 6–9, big gradation in size; furrow 6; subambulacral 6–8 in curved series, small at edges; adradial actinal up to about 10; interradial up to about 10 in clusters over crest of plate. Interradial spines thick digitiform and thin, opaque, rugose, bluntly rounded to pointed distally. Lacking actinal gonopores.

Distribution. East African coast, Zanzibar, Kenya, rock substrate, shallow sub-littoral; Oman, coral reef.

Etymology. Named for Andrew Cabrinovic (Natural History Museum, London), with appreciation of his gracious assistance in facilitating loans to Museum Victoria for this and previous studies.

Remarks. The generic diagnostic characters (in O’Loughlin and Waters, 2004) of Callopatiria Verrill, 1913 that are shared by the new species are: 5 discrete rays; rays long, stellate form; sides of rays close to perpendicular above angular margin; rays broadly flat actinally, high convex abactinally; irregular arrangement of upper ray plates; abactinal plates crescentiform; abactinal plates covered by narrow band of numerous elongate glassy spinelets; absence of pedicellariae; secondary plates in papular spaces; inferomarginals project only slightly; numerous digitiform actinal spines per plate; presence of series of superambulacral plates; numerous superactinal plates fill the interradial angular margin of the rays, contiguous with superambulacral plates for most of ray length; interior resinous body lining.

Callopatiria cabrinovici sp. nov. differs from C. granifera ( Gray, 1847) , the type species for Callopatiria (distribution South Africa, from Namibia to Natal), by having: small papular spaces with predominantly single papula and secondary plate per papular space (not up to about 10); superomarginal plates smaller than inferomarginals (not subequal); actinal plates in longitudinal series (not oblique); more numerous suboral spines per plate (more than up to 6); more numerous furrow and subambulacral spines per plate (more than 4). C. cabrinovici sp. nov. differs from C. formosa ( Mortensen, 1933) (type locality False Bay, South Africa) by lacking the enlarged, rounded, distal abactinal plates that are mostly bare of spinelets; by having more numerous actinal spines (more than 3–4 furrow and subambulacral spines, more than 7 actinal interradial spines).

The specimen from Oman is in poor condition, but is judged with some uncertainty to belong to the new species. The other two specimens that are not nominated as types are small, and do not show the diagnostic characters as distinctively as the larger specimens, but they are also judged with some uncertainty to belong to the new species .

Rowe and Richmond (2004) discussed the occurrence of asterinid species from the western Indian Ocean.They recognized two undescribed species from Rodrigues, and these have subsequently been described by O’Loughlin and Rowe (2006) as Aquilonastra conandae and Aquilonastra richmondi . Reference was made by Rowe and Richmond (2004) to two specimens from Zanzibar, thought by A.M. Clark to be “possibly referable to Paranepanthia Fisher ” (discussed fully in note 89 on pages 68–71 in Clark and Rowe 1971).Three NHM specimens that were examined in this work (see above) are from Watamu ( Kenya) and had been determined as Paranepanthia . These specimens, and others from Kenya and Zanzibar (see above) that had been determined as Asterina burtoni , are referred here to the new species Callopatiria cabrinovici .

Figures

Figure 4. Callopatiria cabrinovici sp. nov. (photos by L. Altoff and A. Falconer). Holotype, NHM 1965.6.1.743 (R = 27–35 mm). a, abactinal view, insert showing spinelets. b, cleared proximal upper ray showing “field” of irregular singly papulate primary and few secondary plates. c, lateral view of cleared ray showing longitudinal series of plates, and superomarginal and inferomarginal series of plates. d, cleared ray with section of abactinal plates removed, showing superactinal plates (upper right arrow), superambulacral plates (lower right arrow) and ambulacral plates (left arrow). e, actinal surface showing longitudinal series of actinal plates. f, oral, suboral, furrow, subambulacral and proximal actinal spines.