Asterias nodosa, Lamarck, 1816

Jangoux, Michel, 2021, The asteroid species of Lamarck (Echinodermata: Asteroidea), Zoosystema 43 (13), pp. 213-252 : 234

nodosa var. 3 Lamarck, 1816, Asterias

( Fig. 23 E-F)

Asterias nodosa Lamarck, 1816:557

REVISED STATUS. — Asterias nodosa var. 3 is newly synonymized here with Protoreaster lincki (Blainville, 1830) .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Mauritius • MNHN-IE-2017-837; specimen from the Baudin expedition (1800-1804); Péron and Lesueur leg .

DISTRIBUTION. — Tropical West Indian ocean.

REMARK

P. lincki differs markedly from P. nodosus in having some of the distal supero-marginal plates bearing laterally-projecting spines. Also red and brown-beige are the dominant colours of abactinal and supero-marginal plates in P. lincki while they are of a varied brown in P.nodosus . Note also that P.lincki is very common in the west part of the Indian Ocean while P.nodosus is in the West Pacific.

Figures

FIG. 23. — Asterias nodosa Lamarck, 1816, A-D, varieties 1 & 2: A, B, abactinal (A) and actinal (B) surfaces; C, enlarged abactinal tubercule, D, interradial arc (MHNH, Lesueur’s collection 74055, details, courtesy of MHNH); E, F, variety 3: abactinal (E) and actinal (F) surfaces (MNHN-IE-2017-837).