Ophiopteris antipodum E.A. Smith, 1877

Mills, V. Sadie & O'Hara, Timothy D., 2013, Ophiuroids (Echinodermata; Ophiuroidea) of biogenic habitats on the continental shelf of New Zealand, Zootaxa 3613 (5), pp. 401-444 : 423

Ophiopteris antipodum E.A. Smith, 1877

Ophiopteris antipodum Smith, E.A., 1877: 306 , pl. 15.—Lyman, 1882: 176.—Farquhar, 1898: 192.—Clark, H.L., 1915a: 294.—Clark, H.L., 1921: 132.—Mortensen, 1924: 122–123, fig. 10.—Fell, 1951: 4.—Fell, 1952: 24.

Material Examined. Bay of Islands. TAN0906/25, NIWA 54778 (1). East Coast North Island. TAN1108/197, NIWA 77795 (2). TAN1108/239, NIWA 75487 (3). TAN1108/268, NIWA 77796 (1); NIWA 75641 (27). Marlborough Sounds. TAN1105/156, NIWA 73875 (2). Otago. TAN1108/66, NIWA 74365 (8); NIWA 74361 (1). TAN1108/138, NIWA 77802 (1). Stewart Island. TAN1108/77, NIWA 74490 (3).

Diagnosis. Dense cover of rounded granules on dorsal disc and first 2 dorsal arm plates, short blunt spines at disc margin and ventral disc. Upper arm spine modified into a square flat scale. Five arm spines, reducing to 4 beyond base, thick, flattened and square-tipped. Middle arm spine longest, up to 4 arm segments in length, reducing in length to ventral-most arm spine at just over 1 segment in length. Arm plates not markedly wider than long. Single tentacle scale. Dark purple/red disc, arm plates and arm spines in live and preserved animals.

Description. See Mortensen (1924).

Distribution. New Zealand (1–105 m).