Bathyceramaster Mah 2016

Mah, Christopher L., 2024, Two New Taxa of Goniasteridae (Asteroidea, Echinodermata) and Noteworthy Observations of Deep-Sea Asteroidea by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the North and Tropical Atlantic, Zootaxa 5432 (4), pp. 461-508 : 475

Bathyceramaster Mah 2016

Mah 2016: 105; 2022: 31

Diagnosis

Abactinal plates tabulate, low to moderate in height with fasciolar grooves, variably shallow to well-developed, plates lacking stellate bases. Abactinal, marginal, actinal surfaces covered by densely arranged polygonal to round granules. Body stellate, many species with well-developed arms (R/ r=1.8–4.0). Based on Mah (2016).

Comments

A genus described in order to accommodate Mediaster elegans , a species assigned to Mediaster but lacking the stellate radiating base, which was shared between species in Mediaster and related genera, such as Ceramaster ( Mah 2016) . It currently includes five Pacific species, which all occur in deep-sea settings. Although Bathyceramaster kelliottae n. sp. is the first Atlantic species described, images suggest the possibility that one or two more species were observed.