Endoxocrinus (Endoxocrinus) parrae prionodes ( H.L. Clark, 1941 )

David, Jerome, Roux, Michel, Messing, Charles G. & Ameziane, Nadia, 2006, Revision of the pentacrinid stalked crinoids of the genus Endoxocrinus (Echinodermata, Crinoidea), with a study of environmental control of characters and its consequences for taxonomy, Zootaxa 1156, pp. 1-50 : 36

Endoxocrinus (Endoxocrinus) parrae prionodes ( H.L. Clark, 1941)

Figures 4 b, 5c.

Synonymy: Endoxocrinus prionodes H.L. Clark, 1941: 6 ; Endoxocrinus parrae Meyer et al., 1978 (pars): 424; Endoxocrinus parrae (phenotype PR) Oji, 1990a: 603, 1996: 340–341; Endoxocrinus parrae Messing et al., 1990: 19 ; Endoxocrinus (Endoxocrinus) mülleri var. prionodes David, 1998: 203 (unpublished data); Endoxocrinus (Endoxocrinus) prionodes Roux et al. 2002: 820 .

Diagnosis

A relatively gracile subspecies of E. parrae with up to 46 (mode 30) usually serrated arms up to 125 mm long (mean 99 mm); number of IIIBr 2–5 (mode 3); stalk length up to 50.5 cm (mean 23.5 cm); proximalmost stalk diameter up to 5 mm (mean 4.1 mm); proximal cirri remaining rudimentary before the 6th nodal; internodal thickness and width regular; number of internodals per noditaxis up to 16 (mean 12); nodals with ratio of height to diameter 0.51–0.52; cryptosymplexies with a slight inner symmorphy of interpetaloid zones; number of cirrals per cirrus up to 38 (mode 30), fewer than in the two other subspecies.

Type locality

Off northern coast of Santa Clara Province, Cuba, at a depth of 482 m. Holotype: Catalogue no. MCZ 1000, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; first figured by H.L. Clark 1941, pl. 1.

Occurrence

From the northwestern Bahamas to the eastern end of Hispaniola, off northern and southern Cuba, at depths from 402 m to 832 m (David 1998); greater abundance in the northwestern Bahamas (Oji 1990) probably related to the relatively high number of dredges and submersible dives in this area.

Figures

FIGURE 4. The four phenotypes of diplocrinine crinoids in their environment off the Bahamas. (a): population of the minimus phenotype on the flank of a lithoherm (photo courtesy A. C. Neumann, Univ. North Carolina, taken from DSV Alvin), (b): one specimen of the prionodes phenotype between blocks at the Deep site, (c): a population of the parrae phenotype accompanied by a few Neocrinus decorus on the upcurrent slope of a large mound at the Middle Site, (d): one specimen of the parrae phenotype on a hardground slope at the Middle Site, (e): a population of the carolinae phenotype clinging to the overhanging edge of a block at the Deep Site, (f): three specimens of the phenotype carolinae attached to the side of a block at the Deep Site (photos b­f taken from Johnson Sea Link by C. G. Messing).