Nemaster

Summers, Mindi M., Messing, Charles G. & Rouse, Greg W., 2017, The genera and species of Comatulidae (Comatulida: Crinoidea): taxonomic revisions and a molecular and morphological guide, Zootaxa 4268 (2), pp. 151-190 : 161

Nemaster AH Clark, 1909a

Table 1, Fig. 2

Type species. Nemaster grandis AH Clark, 1909a.

Description. Mouth excentric in fully developed individuals; up to 31 arms; centrodorsal well-developed, circular, with cirri; IBr2 series united by synarthry; first syzygy at 3+4 on arms arising from IBr; IIBr 4(3+4); IIIBr and beyond 3(2+3); arms arising from IIBr and beyond with first syzygy at 2+3 and first pinnule on br1; distal intersyzygial interval 3–4; distalmost pinnule comb on P6; comb teeth single, triangular or truncated, confluent with interior edge of pinnule; terminal comb tooth discrete.

Distribution. Tropical western Atlantic from Jamaica and along the Caribbean coast from Honduras to Islas los Roques, Venezuela, including Curaçao and Bonaire. One specimen was collected NW of the Dominican Republic. Depth range: 3–102 m (chiefly in>10 to ~ 60 m) ( Meyer 1973a; Meyer et al. 1978).

Remarks. Nemaster differs from other western-Atlantic confamilials in having comb teeth along the edge of the pinnule closest to the arm, a trait shared with Indo-western Pacific Comatella species. Hoggett & Rowe (1986) removed both Davidaster species from Nemaster based on their different pinnule comb forms. Nemaster shares a comb form with Comatella , but shares a ray branching pattern with Davidaster and Indo-western Pacific Capillaster . Nemaster grandis is rheophilic; it perches in the open chiefly on top of corals, sponges, or rock outcrops ( Meyer, 1973a, b). Its cirri are much longer and more robust, with up to 35 segments, than in Davidaster species, which have at most 18 segments.

COMATULINAE Fleming, 1828

COMATULINI Fleming, 1828

Figures

FIGURE 2. Maximum likelihood tree of Comatellinae inferred from COI. Symbols near nodes refer to bootstrap (BS) and jackknife (JK) support scores, for maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) analyses, respectively. An asterisk indicates nodes with> 90 % bootstrap and jackknife support. Other scores are represented BS / JK. A hyphen is given for nodes not recovered in MP analyses. Previous morphological identifications in brackets. Taxa labeled as: location - Genbank accession number. Location abbreviations — Great Barrier Reef, Australia (GBR); Madang, Papua New Guinea (PNG); Raja Ampat, Indonesia (Raja); Rowley Shoals, Western Australia (WA). New COI sequences: Genbank KR 010271 - KR 010293.