Persephonaster sphenoplax ( Bell, 1892 )

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 : 78

Persephonaster sphenoplax ( Bell, 1892)

Reports for the Azores:

Astropecten sphenoplax Bell, 1892 — $ Koehler 1909: 42, pl. 17, fig. 8; Mortensen 1927a: 59; Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972: 374;

Persephonaster humilis ( Koehler, 1907a) — $ Koehler 1909: 61–62, pl. 19, figs. 2–4; Mortensen 1927a: 64;

Persephonaster sphenoplax ( Bell, 1892) — $ A.M. Clark & Downey 1992: 65–66, figs. 14e, f. h–j, I, 15i, j, pl. 20, figs. A–C; García-Diez et al. 2005: 46.

Type locality: NW of Ireland .

See: A.M. Clark & Downey (1992).

Occurrence: Northeast Atlantic, from the Rockall Trough (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992) to the northern part of the Bay of Biscay ( Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972) and in the Azores ( Koehler 1909); possibly also in the SE of Florida (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992).

Depth: (?675)820– 1,187 m ( AZO: 845– 1,187 m; Koehler 1909, A.M. Clark & Downey 1992).

Habitat: soft to hard substrates ( Koehler 1909).

Remarks: A.M. Clark & Downey (1992) remarked that Bell’s incomplete original descriptions might have led Koehler (1909) to fail to recognise Persephonaster sphenoplax in the Azorean material he used to erect Persephonaster humilis . The former authors compared material belonging to both species and concluded them to be conspecific, dismissing morphological differences as size-related.