Hippasteria, LEIOPELTA FISHER, 1910

Mah, Christopher, Neill, Kate, Eléaume, Marc & Foltz, David, 2014, New species and global revision of Hippasteria (Hippasterinae: Goniasteridae; Asteroidea; Echinodermata), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 171 (2), pp. 422-456 : 434

HIPPASTERIA LEIOPELTA FISHER, 1910

(WITH FORMAE ACULEATA AND LONGIMANA DJAKONOV, 1950)

Fisher, 1910: 553; 1911: 227; Djakonov, 1950: 56 (1968: 47); 1952: 413; Mah et al., 2010: 286.

Type species

Hippasteria leiopelta Fisher, 1910 , holotype USNM 27886 .

Comments

Djakonov (1950) moved H. leiopelta armata to H. spinosa , resulting in Hippasteria spinosa armata , based on the recognition of morphological characters (e.g. spines on the superomarginals) that more accurately represent- ed affinities between H. leiopelta and H. spinosa . Subsequent synonymy of this subspecies is considered under H. phrygiana . A size range of Hippasteria leiopelta show a very different overall morphology from comparably sized H. phrygiana supporting H. leiopelta as a separate species. Given prior misleading taxonomic assignments based on size bias, allocation of Djakonov’s (1950) two formae aculeata and longimana remains uncertain.

The Japanese H. nozawai seems to share many characters and is either closely related or a possible synonym. No DNA-ready tissue was available to be sampled for this species and conclusive phylogenetic affinities remain unavailable until it can be included in future work. For now, we tentatively place it, as a separate species, but closely related to H. phrygiana based on its apparent morphological similarities.

Occurrence

Southern Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Tartar Strait , and Aniva Bay off the south-east coast of Kamchatka. 35– 418 m.

Material examined

USNM 31793 Kamchatka, south-east of Petropavlovsk , 52°46′50.15″N, 158°44′30.1″W, 88–126 m (13 wet specs) .