Ophiophycis gloriensis Guille & Vadon, 1986

O’Hara, Timothy D. & Thuy, Ben, 2022, Biogeography and taxonomy of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from the Îles Saint- Paul and Amsterdam in the southern Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 5124 (1), pp. 1-49 : 13

Ophiophycis gloriensis Guille & Vadon, 1986

Ophiophycis gloriensis Guille & Vadon, 1986: 178–181 , fig. 1(a–b), pl. 3(22–24).

Material examined. MD 50 DC108, MNHN IE.2009.1618 (2).

Distribution. W Indian Ocean (250 m). SPA (460–510 m).

Remarks. These tiny specimens (1.0– 1.3 mm dd) are referred to Ophiophycis gloriensis from the SW Indian Ocean as they have a first LAP that extends to the disc margin, spiniform thorny arm spines, a star-shaped centrodorsal plate and 4 visible pairs of tentacle pores. They differ from the larger type (2.5 mm dd) in having only one tentacle scale and one scale between the radial shields. These are distinguishing features of another species from St Helena, O. gracilis Mortensen, 1933d , which Litvinova (1981) considers a juvenile of Ophiomisidium speciosum Koehler, 1914 . Ophiomisidium speciosum has also been reported from Kerguelen ( Guille 1982), south of the SPA. More data is required to resolve the relationship of Ophiophycis and Ophiomisidium species.