Echinodermata Klein, 1734

Thuy, Ben & Schulz, Hartmut, 2013, The oldest representative of a modern deep-sea ophiacanthid brittle-star clade from Jurassic shallow-water coral reef sediments, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (3), pp. 525-531 : 526

Phylum Echinodermata Klein, 1734 Order Ophiurida Müller and Troschel, 1840 Family Ophiacanthidae Ljungman, 1867 Genus Ophiosternle nov.

Type species: Ophiurites crinitus ( Quenstedt, 1876) , monotypic; see below.

Etymology: Name derived from the Swabian diminutive of German stern, star, in reference to Swabia in south Germany, where the type material of the taxon was discovered, originally described and eventually housed (gender neutral).

Diagnosis.—Ophiacanthid with conspicuously large radial shields, as long as three quarters of the disc radius and separated interradially by numerous small plates; jaw tips with a cluster of three to four small, conical apical papillae; dorsal arm plates broad and smooth; arm spines circular in section, thick, smooth.