Comaster Agassiz, 1836

Mohammednowshad, B., Idreesbabu, K. K., Parameswaran, Usha V., Messing, Charles G. & Sureshkumar, S., 2020, The Shallow-water Crinoid Fauna of Lakshadweep Atolls, North-western Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 4789 (1), pp. 247-265 : 252

Comaster Agassiz, 1836

Type species.— Alecto multifida Müller, 1841 .

Diagnosis.— A genus of Comatulidae with mouth excentric in fully developed specimens; up to 180 arms 130 mm long; anterior and posterior arms of roughly equal length; centrodorsal small, discoidal or pentagonal; cirri absent or present, from few, small and weak, to XXXIII with 17 segments; aboral surface with irregular plates between bases of adjacent rays; IBr2 united by synarthry; IIBr and beyond 2 or 4(3+4), usually with IIIBr2 exteriorly and IIIBr4(3+4) interiorly; first syzygy on undivided arms always 3+4; distal inter-syzygial interval 4; distal-most pinnule comb at least P2 (usuallyP3–P8), sometimes at intervals to P14; combs arising gradually and tapering to a sharp point distally; pinnules on division series and sometimes P1 with comb of single, non-confluent teeth; teeth of brachial pinnule combs paired, confluent, erect, more or less equal-sized and well separated; pairs sometimes joined as a transverse bar. Juvenile specimens (10–13 arms) often lacking paired comb teeth (modified from Mess- ing, 1998b; Summers, et al., 2017).