Sphaeriodiscus bourgeti ( Perrier, 1885c )

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 90-91

Sphaeriodiscus bourgeti ( Perrier, 1885c)

Reports for the Azores:

Stephanaster bourgeti $ Perrier, 1885c: 31–34, 1894: 403–406 , pl. 26, fig. 1;

Sphaeriodiscus bourgeti ( Perrier, 1885c) — Mortensen 1927a: 79; Tortonese & Clark 1956: 347, 349, 350.

Type locality: Cape Verde .

See: Perrier (1894); A.M. Clark & Downey (1992: 266, pl. 65, figs. C–E).

Occurrence: Northeast Atlantic, known from the Bay of Biscay ( Cherbonnier 1970), Cape Verde, the Azores ( Perrier 1894) and Natal ( South Africa; H.L. Clark 1926).

Depth: 285–760 m ( Perrier 1894, Cherbonnier 1970), AZO: 560 m ( Perrier 1894).

Habitat: soft substrates (sand and gravel; Perrier 1894).

Remarks: Perrier (1885c, 1894) described Stephanaster bourgeti based on the material collected by Talisman in Cape Verde. However, apparently Perrier did not notice that among the listed material there were three individuals from the Azores (sta 123, 1883: 38°23’00”N, 28°49’46”W, 560 m). No other material of S. bourgeti is known from the archipelago and, the distribution of this species seems remarkably discontinuous with reported localities quite remote from each other.