Ophiotreta valenciennesi ( Lyman, 1878 )

Stöhr, Sabine, 2011, New records and new species of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, Zootaxa 3089, pp. 1-50 : 20-21

Ophiotreta valenciennesi ( Lyman, 1878)

Material. Sta. CP1646: 4 spms.

Remarks. Currently, two subspecies are recognized within O. valenciennesi , the nominate Indo-Pacific form and the Atlanto-Mediterranean O. valenciennesi rufescens Koehler, 1896 . The differences between these are more rugose disk granules and longer adoral shields in the nominate subspecies ( Paterson 1985). Mortensen (1933b) observed a large variability in the oral shields of Atlantic specimens, which he referred to rufescens, because he found them different from typical valenciennesi . This distinction cannot be maintained though, since Pacific specimens fall within the variability of rufescens ( O'Hara & Stöhr 2006, and Lifou material). Given the high variability of several characters it is possible that these forms represent a species complex, but a subspecies distinction cannot be maintained.

The delimitation of Ophiotreta from Ophiacantha rests mainly on the usually spatulate shape of the distal oral papilla in Ophiotreta ( Verrill 1899b) . This character has however also been shown for Ophiacantha bidentata (Bruzelius, 1805) , the type species of Ophiacantha ( Martynov & Litvinova 2008) . Another generic character, the flat and serrated arm spines, is shared by Ophiopristis , of which Ophiotreta originally was a subgenus (Verrill 1899), and by Ophiocopa , suggesting possible affinities between these genera, which were placed in three different subfamilies ( Paterson 1985). This may be additional evidence supporting Martynov's (2010b) decision to drop the subfamilies.