Genus Echinaster Müller & Troschel, 1840

Museums

Regional Maps

• Echinaster Müller, J. & Troschel, F.H. 1840. Beobachtungen über die Asteriensammlung des Zoologischen Museums. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1840: 100-106 [102].

  Type species:

   Asterias seposita Lamarck, 1816 by subsequent designation, see Fisher, W.K. 1913. A new species of Echinaster, with a note on the name Othilia. Zoologischer Anzeiger 42(5): 193-196 [194].
• Othilia Gray, J.E. 1840. A synopsis of the genera and species of the Class Hypostoma (Asterias, Linnaeus). Annals and Magazine of Natural History ns 6: 175-184, 275-290 [281].

  Type species:

   Asterias spinosa Retzius, 1805 by subsequent designation, see Fisher, W.K. 1913. A new species of Echinaster, with a note on the name Othilia. Zoologischer Anzeiger 42(5): 193-196 [195].
• Rhopia Gray, J.E. 1840. A synopsis of the genera and species of the Class Hypostoma (Asterias, Linnaeus). Annals and Magazine of Natural History ns 6: 175-184, 275-290 [282].

  Type species:

   Asterias seposita Retzius, 1783 by subsequent designation, see Fisher, W.K. 1913. A new species of Echinaster, with a note on the name Othilia. Zoologischer Anzeiger 42(5): 193-196 [195].
• Verrillaster Downey, M.E. 1973. Starfishes from the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 126: 1-158 figs 1-2 pls 1-48 [89].

  Type species:

   Echinaster spinulosus Verrill, 1869 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Clark, A.M. & Downey, M.E. 1992. Starfishes of the Atlantic. London : Natural History Museum and Chapman Hall 794 pp. 75 figs 113 pls. [350]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northwest Province (4), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41), Central Western Transition (5)

General References

Tortonese, E. & Downey, M.E. 1977. On the genera Echinaster Müller and Troschel and Othilia Gray, and the validity of Verrillaster Downey (Echinodermata: Asteroidea). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 90(4): 829-830 [829] (Othilia Gray, 1840 was reinstated at the generic level; it was previously regarded as a synonym of Echinaster but A.M. Clark & Downey (1992) now consider Othilia to rank as a subgenus of Echinaster)

History of changes