Ophiopsila pantherina, KOEHLER, 1898

Stöhr, Sabine, Conand, Chantal & Boissin, Emilie, 2008, Brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from La Réunion and the systematic position of Ophiocanops Koehler, 1922, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153 (3), pp. 545-560 : 556

OPHIOPSILA PANTHERINA KOEHLER, 1898

Material: Three spms (dd = 3–5 mm); La Réunion, S. Ribes, no locality data.

Comments: This species can be distinguished from the other Indo-Pacific species O. paucispina Koehler, 1907 by its greater number of arm spines ( Clark & Rowe, 1971). The specimens at hand have five to six, on few joints seven, spines, while O. paucispina has only four. The coloration in alcohol has faded, but a mottled red pattern is still visible on two of the specimens.

Distribution: Type locality is Burma, Andaman Sea; after synonymization with O. gilletti Kingston, 1980 , also Great Barrier and Swain Reefs ( Rowe & Gates, 1995), Australia; new record for La Réunion and Mascarenes.

FAMILY OPHIODERMATIDAE LJUNGMAN, 1867 GENUS OPHIOCONIS LÜTKEN, 1869 OPHIOCONIS CUPIDA KOEHLER, 1905

Material: Thirty-seven spms (dd = 3–4 mm); collected by S. Ribes, but no locality data on the label.

Comments: Clark & Rowe (1971) suggested that O. cupida may be a synonym of O. cincta Brock, 1888 , along with O. permixta Koehler, 1905 . The main difference between these three species is in the disc armament, which consists of a dense coat of granules in O. cupida , marginal rod-like spines in addition to granules in O. cincta , and scattered spines all over the disc with granules in O. permixta ( Clark & Rowe, 1971) . Later, Rowe, in Rowe & Gates (1995), repeated that suggestion, but no formal revision has yet been published. In the same volume, an unfortunate misspelling (F. W. E. Rowe, pers. comm.) of the genus as Ophioconus occurred, which has led to some confusion in later publications. The valid name is Ophioconis and any other spelling is discouraged.

The specimens from La Réunion all have only granules, no spines, which matches the current diagnosis of O. cupida . The largest specimens measure about 4 mm dd, which is the same size as the type of that species ( Koehler, 1905). Both O. permixta and O. cincta grow to a larger size ( Koehler, 1905). However, the maximum size of these species is not known and the diagnostic value of size differences between them has not been shown.

Distribution: West Indian Ocean, west-central Pacific, north-eastern Australia ( Rowe & Gates, 1995); new record for La Réunion and Mascarenes.