Species Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Asterias planci Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10, 824 pp. [823].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown ("he only specimen referred to by Linnaeus (1758), the one figured in Plancus (1744), plate XXXVIII (38), fig. A" (Haszprunar & Spies 2014: 272)), Goa, West coast of India.
• Asterias solaris Schreber, J.C.D. von 1793. Beschreibung der Seesonne, einer Art Seesterne, mit 21 Strahlen [Description of the sea sun, a type of starfish, with 21 rays.]. Der Naturforscher, Halle a. d. Saale 27: 1-6 [2].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown, type locality unknown.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Birkeland, C. & Lucas, J.S. 1990. Acanthaster planci: Major Management Problem of Coral Reefs. Boca Raton : CRC Press. [17]

 

Generic Combinations

• Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758). —
  Verrill, A.E. 1914. Monograph of the shallow water starfishes of the North Pacific coast from the Arctic Ocean to California. Harriman Alaska Series 14(1): 1-408 pls 1-110 [364]
• Acanthaster solaris (Schreber, 1793). —
  Gervais, P. 1841. Astérie. Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles Supplement 1(2): 461-481 [474]

 

Introduction

A range of studies suggest that Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758) is a species complex consisting of four separate species (see Haszprunar et al. 2017). Two of these species have been named, with Acanthaster planci reserved for the North Indian Ocean form, and A. mauritiensis de Loriol, 1885 for the South Indian Ocean form. While the name Acanthaster solaris (Schreber, 1793) has been proposed for the form in the east Indo-Pacific this is yet to be widely accepted and we retain the name here as a junior synonym of A.planci until the situation is resolved. See Haszprunar et al. (2017) and references therein for further details.

 

Distribution

States

Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Port Maud, WA to North Solitary Is., NSW and Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs; Indo-Pacific Ocean. Depth range 0-65 m.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Lord Howe Province (14), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Ecological Descriptors

Benthic, marine.

 

General References

Clark, A.M. & Rowe, F.W.E. 1971. Monograph of Shallow-water Indo-west Pacific Echinoderms. London : Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) 238 pp. 100 figs 31 pls.

Haszprunar, G., Vogler, C. and Wörheide, G. 2017. Persistent gaps of knowledge for naming and distinguishing multiple species of Crown-of-Thorns-Seastar in the Acanthaster planci species complex. Diversity 9(22): 1-10

Wilkinson, C.R. 1990. Acanthaster planci. Coral Reefs Special Issue 9(3): 93-172

Wilkinson, C.R. & MacIntyre, I.G. (eds) 1992. The Acanthaster debate. Coral Reefs 11(2): 51-122

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
15-Sep-2023		27-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)