Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
A Revision of the Comatulid Genus Stephanometra AH Clark With a Rediagnosis of the Genus Lamprometra AH Clark (Echinodermata: Crinoidea)
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Zootaxa
ISSN
1175-5326
Publication Date
2008
Keywords
Crinoidea, Comatulid, Stephanometra, Lamprometra, Taxonomy, Mariametridae
Abstract
Several genera in the comatulid crinoid family Mariametridae are currently ambiguously distinguished on the basis of variations in length and robustness of oral pinnules. Previous descriptions have suggested that at least the genera Stephanometra and Lamprometra, both common and widespread on Indo-western Pacific reefs, are imperfectly distinguishable. A detailed morphological re-examination supports distinct Stephanometra and Lamprometra. The five currently recognized species of Stephanometra are reduced to two: S. echinus under S. tenuipinna, and S. spicata (inlcuding S. oxyacantha) and S. spinipinna under S. indica. Of specimens examined in the indica-spicata-oxyacantha series, 20% are intermediates that cannot be satisfactorily assigned to species based on current diagnoses. In Lamprometra, L. klunzingeri and L. palmata gyges are formally reduced to infrasubspecific variants of L. palmata.
Volume
1888
First Page
1
Last Page
35
NSUWorks Citation
Rankin, Dana L., and Charles G. Messing. (2008) A revision of the comatulid genus Stephanometra A.H. Clark with a rediagnosis of the genus Lamprometra A.H. Clark (Echinodermata: Crinoidea) Zootaxa 1888: 1- 35.
