Abstract
A new species of Ophiuroidea, Ophiacantha scissionis sp. nov., is described. It was collected from Munseom Island, Jeju-do, South Korea at a depth of 28–36 m, by SCUBA diving. Ophiacantha scissionis has unique and distinct morphological characteristics: Small disk, densely covered by small trifid spines, radial shields completely concealed by disk spines, six arms with four arm spines proximally, fissiparous. In addition, this species is clearly distinguished from other species of Ophiacantha by mitochondrial COI. This species is usually hexamerous and reproduces asexually by fissiparity. It is the first report of fissiparous reproduction in the genus Ophiacantha.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 8 |
Journal | Zoological Studies |
Volume | 58 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work and the new species name have been registered with ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7E87C6F8-357F-4C21- 8EC2-3B11AC7598D2. This study was supported by the Marine Biotechnology Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST), which was funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) (No. 20170431), and a grant from the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), which was funded by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea (NIBR201902107).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Keywords
- Brittle stars
- Mitochondrial COI
- Ophiacanthidae
- Phylogeny
- Taxonomy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Animal Science and Zoology