Genus Hemipholis Lyman, 1865

Type taxon. Hemipholis cordifera (Bosc, 1802), originally described as Asterias cordifera .

Diagnosis. Disc regularly covered with scales dorsally and naked ventrally, with soft interradial recesses. Absence of bursae. Radial shields partially joined. One lateral oral papilla. Adoral shields all in contact, forming a continuous ring around the mouth. One tentacle scale. Three pointed arm spines (Lyman 1865; Fell 1960; Tommasi 1970; Albuquerque 1986).

Comments. Hemipholis shares features with Ophiactis, such as a ring of contiguous adoral shields and the presence of hemoglobin containing coelomocytes in its water vascular system (Christensen et al. 2008), suggesting a close systematic relationship between both genera (Hendler 2011). Hemipholis is well-studied and has repeatedly been cited in ecological, environmental, and biological studies owing to its abundance, broad geographic range, and its remarkable morphological and physiological specializations (Hendler et al. 1995; Hendler 2011). Currently, two species are accepted in Hemipholis (Stöhr et al. 2016), with one recorded from Brazil (Barboza & Borges 2012): Hemipholis cordifera (Bosc, 1802) .