Ophiocoma cynthiae Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara, 2008

Parameswaran, Usha V., Nowshad, B. Mohammed, Dixit, Sudhanshu, Manjebrayakath, Hashim, Idreesbabu, K. K. & Saravanane, N., 2020, New records of brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the Lakshadweep atolls, northern Indian Ocean, with notes on Indophioderma ganapatii Sastry Marimuthu & Rajan, 2019, Zootaxa 4809 (3), pp. 560-570 : 563-564

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4809.3.9

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:49205946-98C0-44E8-833B-315A1B686656

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4328211

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C57D87D4-FFBD-FFBB-FF4D-FC73C526FA88

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Ophiocoma cynthiae Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara, 2008
status

 

Ophiocoma cynthiae Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara, 2008

( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 a-f)

Ophiocoma cynthiae Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara, 2008: 51–55 View Cited Treatment , fig. 1–2.— Boissin et al. 2016: 283 View Cited Treatment , fig. 4a. Material examined: Agatti Island—intertidal, eastern side (10° 50.73’ N, 72° 11.35’ E), coll. U. Parameswaran on 05.11.2018 by hand, 2 specimens (CMLRE IO/SS/ECD/00229, 00230); Kavaratti Island—intertidal, eastern side (10° 30.18’ N, 72° 27.06’ E), coll. M. Nowshad on 28.11.2018, 1 specimen (MTRL/DST/E00303).

Description: D.d. up to 25 mm, disc rounded with scalloped margin; arms ~4 times d.d. Disc covered dorsally and ventrally with fine scales; dorsal side bearing large, rounded granules which are packed more densely in the centre ( Fig. 3a, c View FIGURE 3 ); ventral side lacking armament except rounded or tall granules bordering the genital slits and oral shield ( Fig. 3d View FIGURE 3 ). Oral shield oblong to oval, longer than broad; adoral shields, small, triangular, not contiguous radially or inter-radially ( Fig. 3d View FIGURE 3 ). Dental plate oblong, with two foramina, the septum of the second much thicker than the first; dental papillae in three columns in the upper third of the plate ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 e-f). Teeth square-tipped with hyaline edges; apex of dental plate with cluster of ~10 tooth papillae in three columns; one short infradental papilla on each side, followed by a leaf-like secondary adoral shield spine and a much wider adoral shield spine; Lyman’s ossicle projecting between the adoral shield spine and first ventral arm plate ( Fig. 3d View FIGURE 3 ). Dorsal arm plates thick, fanshaped, wider than long; each overlain proximally by the preceding plate ( Fig. 3c View FIGURE 3 ). Ventral arm plates with straight proximal margin, broadly rounded distal margin and recurved lateral margin ( Fig. 3d View FIGURE 3 ). Arm spines two at first segment, increasing up to five, and alternating in number through much of the arm; basal arm spines flattened and long, subsequently becoming cylindrical with rounded tips; alternating dorsal-most arm spine distinctly longer and clubshaped, widest in the middle or just beyond the middle; three arm spines in the distal third of arm, all long, slender and tapering ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 a-d). Two overlapping oval tentacle scales, decreasing to one in the distal end of arm ( Fig. 3d View FIGURE 3 ).

Colour: In life, uniformly black with dull brownish-grey tentacles ( Fig. 3b View FIGURE 3 ); preserved specimen black to grey, including tentacles ( Fig. 3a View FIGURE 3 , c-d).

Distribution: Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Comoros, Reunion, India ( Lakshadweep), Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Micronesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan; intertidal- 26m ( OBIS, 2020b).

Remarks: Ophiocoma cynthiae was separated from O. erinaceus Müller & Troschel, 1842 by Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara (2008) based on molecular evidence ( O’Hara et al. 2004). The two species can be distinguished chiefly by the nature of ventral disc granulation (nearly complete in O. erinaceus and nearly absent in O. cynthiae ), the colour of tube feet in live specimens (bright red in O. erinaceus and grey in O. cynthiae ), and the morphology of the dental plate. Based on these characters, the present specimens from Lakshadweep clearly belong to O. cynthiae . Extensive field surveys in recent years by the authors (particularly MNB & IBKK) have observed this species (with brown-grey tentacles) commonly in all atolls of the Lakshadweep, but have not retrieved a single specimen with red tentacles (characteristic of O. erinaceus ). While O. erinaceus has been reported from the Lakshadweep ( Koehler 1898; Bell 1902; James 1969, 1982; Sastry 1991; Price & Rowe 1996; Sastry et al. 2019), it is possible that these actually represent records of O. cynthiae .

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Echinodermata

Class

Ophiuroidea

Order

Ophiurida

Family

Ophiocomidae

Genus

Ophiocoma

Loc

Ophiocoma cynthiae Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara, 2008

Parameswaran, Usha V., Nowshad, B. Mohammed, Dixit, Sudhanshu, Manjebrayakath, Hashim, Idreesbabu, K. K. & Saravanane, N. 2020
2020
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