Thoracaster cylindratus Sladen, 1883

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 : 170

Erroneous— Thoracaster cylindratus Sladen, 1883

Reports for the Azores:

Thoracaster cylindratus Sladen, 1883 —A.M. Clark & Downey 1992: 105–106, fig. 18f, pl. 26, figs. D–G.

Type locality: between the Canaries and Cape Verde (22°18’N, 21°02’W) .

See: Madsen (1961: 82–92, figs. 10–11, pl. 5, pl. 6, figs. 1–7); A.M. Clark & Downey (1992).

Occurrence: cosmopolitan, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian deep waters; in the West Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, southwards to Brazil (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992); in the East Atlantic from SW of Ireland (Porcupine Seabight) southwards to off Liberia ( Madsen 1961).

Depth: 2,540(?2,315)– 5,990 m (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992).

Habitat: soft bottoms, calcareous clay to Globigerina ooze ( Madsen 1961).

Remarks: A.M. Clark & Downey (1992) have listed the Azores under the geographical range of Thoracaster cylindratus . However, this species was never collected within the Azorean EEZ. Perrier (1885c, 1894) identified a specimen of this species (= Pseudaster cordifer ) among the material collected by Talisman almost 500 km northeast of S„o Jorge Island (sta 134, 1883: 42°19’N, 23°36’W). Later, Koehler (1909) reported this species on two of Princesse Alice stations to the waters east and northeast of the Azores (sta 1306: 37°16’00”N, 20°11’45”W; sta 753: 39°50’00”N, 17°57’45”W). It is likely that T. cylindratus occurs in the Azores considering the wide distribution of this species in the Atlantic and the proximity of above mentioned records. The presence of this species within the archipelago’s waters, however, is still to be confirmed.