Comaster schlegelii (Carpenter, 1881)

Fig. 8 A–G

Actinometra dissimilis: Carpenter, 1884: 110; 1888: 337; AH Clark, 1908c: 439.

Actinometra duplex: Carpenter, 1888: 335, pl. 64, fig. 3; AH Clark, 1908c: 400.

Actinometra nobilis: Carpenter, 1884: 55; 1888: 336, pl. 65, figs. 1–8; AH Clark, 1908c: 445.

Actinometra regalis: Carpenter, 1888: 347, pl. 68, figs. 1–3; AH Clark, 1908c: 446.

Actinometra schlegelii (basionymn): Carpenter, 1881: 210; AH Clark, 1908c: 446; AH Clark, 1913b: 14 (part).

Comanthus callipeplum: HL Clark, 1915: 102; HL Clark, 1946: 48.

Comanthus (Comanthina) nobilis: AH Clark, 1909c: 143.

Comanthus nobilis: AH Clark, 1909f: 395.

Comanthina nobilis: Rowe et al., 1986: 243 –244, fig. 8B.

Comanthus (Comanthina) schlegelii: AH Clark, 1912b: 91 (part).

Comanthina schlegelii: AH Clark, 1911d: 179; 1931: 466 (part; fig.158); AH Clark, 1913b: 14 (part); 1931: 466 (part; figs. 159–161); Rowe et al., 1986: 244–246, figs. 2E, 8C–D.

? Comanthus schlegelii: HL Clark, 1921: 20; 1946: 33.

Comanthina schlegeli: Utinomi & Kogo, 1965: 265, pl. 12, fig. 1, text-figs. 2, 3; AM Clark & Rowe, 1971: 6, 16, pl. 1, fig. 6; Rowe, 1974: 204, 209; Meyer & Macurda, 1980: 77 (part; fig. 6D).

Remarks. We place Comaster nobilis (Carpenter 1884) in synonymy under C. schlegelii (Carpenter 1881), because specimens identified as both show less than 1.9% divergence in uncorrected pairwise distance of COI. All specimens are greater than 3.3% divergent from Comaster audax . Comaster nobilis was previously treated as a synonym of C. schlegelii by AH Clark (1911b, 1911c, 1912b, 1931), but was re-elevated to species status by Rowe et al. (1986), based on its reduced number of cirri, comb distribution, ecology, behavior, and color patterns (see also Messing 1998b). Only the “ C. nobilis ” form without cirri has been recorded on sediment—on the Great Barrier Reef (Messing et al. 2006) and at Madang, Papua New Guinea (herein).