Goniaster tessellatus ( Lamarck, 1816 )

Jangoux, Michel, 2021, The asteroid species of Lamarck (Echinodermata: Asteroidea), Zoosystema 43 (13), pp. 213-252 : 247

tessellata var. C and D Lamarck, 1816, Asterias

( Fig. 41 )

Asterias tessellata var. C and D Lamarck, 1816: 552.

Astrogonium lamarckii Müller & Troschel, 1842: 56 , n. syn.

Goniaster tessellatus – Clark & Downey 1992: 245.

CURRENT STATUS. — Goniaster tessellatus ( Lamarck, 1816) .

DISTRIBUTION. — North Carolina to northern Brazil and Morocco to Gabon. Contrarily to what is sometimes reported, Goniaster tessellatus does not occur in the Indo-Pacific ocean.

REMARK

Lamarck’s type material could not be found in the MNHN. Yet, Müller & Troschel (1842), while giving no information on Lamarck’s Asterias tessellata , described a new species ( Astrogonium lamarckii ) that they found in the Paris collection. Undoubtedly, Astrogonium lamarckii is the first junior synonym of Lamarck’s Asterias tessellata . The holotype of the former is still kept in the MNHN ( Fig. 41 ). It is to be assumed that the type specimen of Astrogonium lamarckii of Müller & Troschel’s would also be that of Lamarck’s Asterias tessellata .

Figures

FIG. 41. — Astrogonium lamarcki Müller & Troschel, 1842 (holotype MNHN-IE-2014-65), a junior synonym and putative type specimen of Asterias tessellata Lamarck, 1816: abactinal and actinal views.