Lophaster furcilliger Fisher 1905

• Main Authors: Mah, Christopher L., Fujita, Toshihiko
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2020
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Echinodermata; Asteroidea; Valvatida; Solasteridae; Lophaster; Lophaster furcilliger; Arctic; Bering Sea; Galapagos; Pacific; Baranova
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3706295; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DC87ABFFD9022317E81DBCFD47909F

Lophaster furcilliger Fisher, 1905 Lophaster furcilliger Fisher, 1905: 312; 1911: 334; Djakonov 1950: 64; Alton 1966: 1706; Oguro in Imaoka et al . 1991: 91; Kogure & Hayashi 1998: Lambert 2000: 79; Lamb & Hamby 2005: 329; Lee & Shin 2009: 331. Lophaster furcilliger vexator Fisher, 1910: 574; Fisher 1911: 334; Djakonov 1968: 55. Lophaster furcilliger vaxator (sic): Baranova 1957: 163. Sarkaster validus Ludwig, 1905: 185. Diagnosis. Lophaster displaying two to five (mostly four or five) furrow spines, up to 20 spinelets per paxillae. Large size with specimens up to R=9.2. Comments. Lophaster furcilliger is a widely occurring species along the Pacific coast of North America, extending from the Galapagos to Japan and Korea. This species was first recorded from the Sea of Japan by Oguro in Imaoka et al . (1991) with subsequent occurrence in the Sado Strait recorded by Kogure and Hayashi (1998). Based on the relatively few spinelets on each paxillar spine, the elongate arms and the bathymetric range, species observed herein are most consistent with the type species Lophaster furcilliger rather than the “shallow water” subspecies L. furcilliger vexator . Fisher (1910,1911) designated this subspecies, L. furcilliger vexator based on larger disk, thicker rays, (and thus smaller R/r), stouter abactinal and marginal paxillae, each with six to ten fine points instead of two to four, heavier adambulacral spines and more closely placed adambulacral plates. Baranova (1957) and Djakonov (1968) regard L. furcilliger vexator as a forma of L. furcilliger and intermediate in form between the Pacific L. furcilliger and the Arctic/Atlantic L. furcifer. Fisher’s (1911: 340) account of this species refers to it as being present in “lesser depths” with distribution from the southern Bering Sea to northern California. Lambert (2000) and Lamb & Hanby (2005) have both indicated L. furcilliger vexator as the “shallow-water” subspecies. However, details as to the extent or specific occurrence are vague. Based on the case ...