Family OPHIACANTHIDAE

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Introduction

The Ophiacanthidae are a large cosmopolitan family containing 35 extant genera and 319 species.

Ophiacanthids are distinguished from other ophiurid families by the following combination of character states: arms slender, commonly constricted at nodes; dorsal and ventral arm plates very small; arm spines long, numerous, not adpressed, commonly glassy and serrate; disc with granules and spinules; apex of jaw with a simple pointed apical papilla with several oral papillae on either side.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

OPHIACANTHIDAE: Ophiogyptis nodosa Koehler, 1905 [= Ophiomoeris nodosa (Koehler, 1905). Original publication: Koehler, R. 1905. Ophiures littorales. Siboga Expéditie Monographie 45(b): 1-142, pls 1-18 [121, pl. 12(11-14)]. Type data: Syntype(s) ZMA E2408-E2409 4 specimens, North of Nuhu Jaan, Kei Is., Solor Strait, Kampong Menanga and 8º30´S 119º7´30˜E, Indo-Malay Archipelago] — Rowe, F.W.E. 1989. Nine new deep-water species of Echinodermata from Norfolk Island and Wanganella Bank, northeastern Tasman Sea, with a checklist of the echinoderm fauna. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 111(4): 257-291 12 figs 1 table [286] (new record for Norfolk Island); Rowe, F.W.E. & Gates, J. 1995. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 33 Echinodermata. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia 510 pp. [369] (listed the species from Norfolk Island under the family Hemieuryalidae); O'Hara, T.D. & Stöhr, S. 2006. Deep water Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) of New Caledonia: Ophiacanthidae and Hemieuryalidae. Tropical Deep Sea Benthos 193: 33-141 (re-identifed as Ophiomoeris obstricta)

OPHIACANTHIDAE: Ophioprium H.L. Clark, 1915 [Ophioprium is from the Caribbean, and now in the family Ophiomyxidae] — Rowe, F.W.E. & Gates, J. 1995. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 33 Echinodermata. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia 510 pp. [376] (listed two species in the genus Ophioprium, however, the species have been moved to the genus Ophiotreta)

General References

Baker, A.N. & Devaney, D.M. 1981. New records of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from southern Australia, including new species of Ophiacantha and Ophionereis. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 105(4): 155-178, figs 1-98

Fell, H.B. 1960. Synoptic keys to the genera of Ophiuroidea. Zoological Publications of the Victoria University, Wellington 26: 1-44 6 figs

Paterson, G.L.J. 1985. The deep-sea Ophiuroidea of the North Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zool. 49(1): 1-162, figs 1-59

Rowe, F.W.E. & Gates, J. 1995. Echinodermata. In, Wells, A. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 33. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia xiii 510 pp. [370]

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