Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1326 No. 1: 2 Oct. 2006
Type: Articles
Published: 2006-10-02
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1326.1.2
Page range: 17–24
Abstract views: 102
PDF downloaded: 6

A new species of Macrophiothrix (Ophiuroidea: Ophiotrichidae) common in northern Australia

Lizard Island Research Station, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia
Echinodermata Ophiuroidea Ophiotrichidae Macrophiothrix new species

Abstract

A new brittlestar species Macrophiothrix caenosa is described from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is common throughout tropical Australia and is also recorded from Japan and Singapore. It is distinguished from congeners by the combination of trapeziform dorsal arm plates, short multifid disc stumps, radial shields with stumps or rugose granules, dental plate shape, arrangement of dental papillae and distribution of ventral disc armament.

References

  1. Hart, M.W. & R.D. Podolsky (2005) Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny and rates of larval evolution in Macrophiothrix brittlestars. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 34, 438–447.

    Hoggett, A.K. (1990) Taxonomy and systematic position of the brittlestar genus Macrophiothrix H.L. Clark (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PhD thesis, University of Queensland, Australia.

    Hoggett, A.K. (1991) The genus Macrophiothrix (Ophiuroidea: Ophiotrichidae) in Australian waters. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 4, 1077–146.

    International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth Edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London.

    Miller, R.L. (1997) Specificity of sperm chemotaxis among Great Barrier Reef shallow-water holothurians and ophiuroids. Journal of Experimental Zoology, 279, 189–200.