Leptasterias

Clark, Roger N. & Jewett, Stephen C., 2015, A new sea star of the genus Leptasterias (Asteroidea: Asteriidae) from the Aleutian Islands, Zootaxa 3941 (4), pp. 579-584 : 583

Key to the known species of five-rayed Aleutian Leptasterias

1a Carinal ossicles large, scale-like, overlapping.............................. Leptasterias squamulata Dyakonov, 1938

1b Carinal ossicles not scale-like and overlapping.............................................................. 2

2a Spines of carinal ossicles very short, thick, diameter as great, or greater than length.................................. 3

2b Spines of carinal ossicles longer, length at least three times diameter............................................. 4

3a Spines of carinal ossicles dome-shaped, arranged in distinct zigzag series.......... ... Leptasterias arctica (Murdoch, 1885)

3b Abactinal spines uniformly spaced, carinal series not in zigzag; tips truncated.................. Leptasterias tatei sp. nov.

4a Spines of inferomarginal ossicles noticeably longer than those of the superomarginals............................... 5

4b Spines of inferomarginal and superomarginals about the same length; abactinal spines slender, of uniform length and distribu- tion................................................................................................ 6

5a Small supplementary ossicles between superomarginals......................... Leptasterias ochotensis (Brandt, 1851)

5b Lacking small supplementary ossicles between superomarginals................... Leptasterias derbeki Dyakonov, 1938

6a Partial disintegration of some dorsolateral ossicles, randomly leaving some carinal ossicles isolated............................................................................................ Leptasterias stolacantha Fisher, 1930

6b Dorsolateral plates not partially disintegrated...................................... Leptasterias hylodes Fisher, 1930