Ophiocoma cynthiae BENAVIDES-SERRATO & O’HARA, 2008

(UF-6335, Fig. 4 a, KC759867)

Material. 2 spms, St. 1; 9 spms, St. 3; 7 spms, St. 5; 5 spms, St. 8

Remarks. This species is the latest described from the ‘ O. erinaceus’ complex (O’Hara et al. 2004). This complex was shown to include at least three forms: Ophiocoma erinaceus Müller and Troschel, 1842, Ophiocoma schoenleinii Müller and Troschel, 1842 and O. cynthiae . Ophiocoma erinaceus is readily distinguishable from the other two by its bright red tube feet (white in alcohol), compared with the dark podia of O. cynthiae and O. schoenleinii . The latter two species can be distinguished by the lack of granules on the ventral disc surface (except for a few near the genital plates) and by the presence of two tentacle scales along the arm beyond the first couple of segments for O. cynthiae . In O. schoenleinii, the granules persist as a wedge near the ventral margin and only one wide tentacle scale is present beyond the first couple of segments (Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara 2008). COI sequence data show little genetic differentiation across the range of this species (Hoareau et al. 2013). Abundance: 3.

Distribution. This new record from the Mascarenes extends the range of this species, previously recorded from the Great Barrier Reef to Tonga (Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara 2008). It is much more abundant than O. erinaceus at Réunion. Previous studies in the Mascarenes likely misidentified this species as O. erinaceus .

a) Ophiocoma cynthiae; b) Ophiocoma erinaceus; c) Ophiocoma erinaceus oral side; d) Ophiocoma scolopendrina; e) Ophiocoma pica; f) Ophiocoma pusilla; g) Ophiocomella sexradia; h) Ophionereis porrecta complex sp. 1; i) Ophionereis porrecta complex sp. 2