Ophiocomella pumila Lütken, 1856

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 163

Erroneous— Ophiocomella pumila Lütken, 1856

Reports for the Azores:

Ophiocoma pumila L̹tken, 1856 — Devaney 1970: 28, figs. 16, 37, 40, 44; Mladenov 1985: 285–295, figs. 1–3; Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011: 325–326.

Type locality: Bermuda .

See: H.L. Clark (1915: 293); Devaney (1970); Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011).

Occurrence: Atlantic tropical waters, in the west from the Caribbean to Brazil and Bermuda (Benavides- Serrato et al. 2011) and in the east from Senegal to the Gulf of Guinea ( Koehler 1914b), including the Canaries ( Hernández et al. 2013) and Cape Verde (H.L. Clark 1915).

Depth: 0–24 m ( Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), but can reach 375 m ( Madsen 1970).

Habitat: among algae or in crannies in rocks and corals (H.L. Clark 1942).

Larval stage: planktotrophic larvae (three months at 26–27.5°C; Mladenov 1985).

Remarks: we could not trace the original report in which led Devaney (1970) to include the Azores in the geographical distribution of Ophiocoma pumila . It seems likely that it is a product of a mistake hence we consider the inclusion of this tropical species in the archipelago as erroneous.