Lophaster Verrill, 1878

Mah, Christopher L., 2023, New Genera, Species, and observations on the biology of Antarctic Valvatida (Asteroidea), Zootaxa 5310 (1), pp. 1-88 : 51

Lophaster Verrill, 1878

Verrill, 1878: 214; Danielssen & Koren 1882: 440; Sladen 1889: 460; Ludwig 1900: 467; Fisher 1911: 334; Koehler 1921: 143; Djakonov 1950: 63; H.E.S. Clark 1963: 61; Bernasconi 1964: 258; Clark & Downey 1992: 299.

Sarkaster Ludwig, 1905: 185 .

Diagnosis

Arms five, cylindrical in cross-section, interradial arcs acute. Abactinal skeleton reticulate, papular areas with multiple pores. Abactinal plates paxillate. Marginal plates in two series, composed of distinct paxillae, larger than adjacent abactinal plates. One series of actinal plates, extending along arm in most species.

Comments

The re-discovery of Lophaster abbreviatus Koehler, 1908 brings the total number of high-latitude Lophaster species to four (A.M. Clark 1962) including L. gaini Koehler, 1912b , L. stellans Sladen, 1889 (with the subspecies L. stellans marionis ), and L. tenuis Koehler, 1920 .

Three species have now been recorded from the North Pacific, off the coast of Japan ( Mah & Fujita 2020).

Mah and Foltz (2011b) sampled several high-latitude Solasteridae , from both hemispheres including what is nominally Lophaster densus Fisher, 1940 . Their results placed this species among members of the genus Paralophaster . It is herein reassigned, but further sampling and testing are desirable.