Cladolabes Brandt, 1835

Cladolabes Brandt, 1835: 35 .— Heding and Panning, 1954: 121.— Thandar, 1989: 299.— Liao and Clark, 1995: 488–489.

Urodemas Selenka 1867: 352 .— H. L. Clark, 1938: 497–499.— 1946: 410.

Pseudocucumis Ludwig, 1875: 90 .— H. L. Clark, 1946: 405.

Diagnosis. Up to large size (150 mm long); 20 tentacles in two (15+5) or three (10+5+5) circles; tube feet scattered over the body, or confined to the radii; calcareous ring not composite, radial and inter-radial plates of ring high, posterior paired radial prolongations distinct but short, not fragmented; ossicles either tables with rudimentary disc and tall two-pillared spires or rudimentary spires, or irregular short thick variably spinous rods and clubs related to tables; rosettes frequently present.

Type species. Cladolabes limaconotus Brandt, 1835 (by monotypy) (NW Pacific)

Other species, with distributions. Cladolabes aciculus (Semper, 1867) (Fiji, tropical Indo-West Pacific); C. arafurus O’Loughlin, sp. nov. (below) (NE Australia); C. bifurcatus (Deichmann, 1944) (Natal, South Africa); C. crassus (H. L. Clark, 1938) (Hong Kong); C. hamatus (Sluiter, 1914) (Indo- Malayan Archipelago); C. perspicillus (Selenka, 1867) (E Australia); C. pichoni Cherbonnier, 1988 (Madagascar); C. roxasi (Domantay, 1934) (Philippines); C. schmeltzii (Ludwig, 1875) (NE Australia to S China).

Remarks. We have emended the earlier diagnoses of Heding and Panning (1954), Thandar (1989) and Liao and Clark (1995) to include the presence of rudimentary table spires that are present in our new species (below). We noted above that the variety of ossicle form in the species of Cladolabidae suggested to Smirnov (2012) that the family might be polyphyletic. We endorse this view for the same reason. For this same reason, and the added reason of the variation in tube foot distribution, we judge that Cladolabes might also be polyphyletic.