Amphiodia Verrill, 1899

Alitto, Renata A. S., Bueno, Maristela L., Guilherme, Pablo D. B., Domenico, Maikon Di, Christensen, Ana Beardsley & Borges, Michela, 2018, Shallow-water brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Araçá Bay (Southeastern Brazil), with spatial distribution considerations, Zootaxa 4405 (1), pp. 1-66 : 31

Genus Amphiodia Verrill, 1899

Type taxon. Amphiodia pulchella ( Lyman, 1869) , originally described as Amphiura pulchella .

Diagnosis. Disc with scales dorsally and ventrally. Radial shields contiguous for almost their entire length or separated proximally by up to four scales. Two lateral oral papillae, distal slightly larger, circular or triangular. One to two tentacle scales. Three to four arm spines, dorsal usually longer ( Verrill 1899a; Thomas 1962; Tommasi 1970).

Comments. Amphiodia was described for some species of Amphiura with different jaw characteristics ( Verrill 1899a). The number, shape, size, and distribution of lateral oral papillae were essential to assign an additional three groups to Amphiura : Amphipholis , Amphiodia , and Amphioplus . Except for Amphioplus , which has three or more lateral oral papillae, the other genera only have two lateral oral papillae, whose shape and size differentiate them. Amphiura has a buccal scale higher up on the jaw, Amphipholis has a much-widened distal papilla, and Amphiodia has a slightly larger distal papilla that may be circular or more triangular. Currently, 35 species are accepted in Amphiodia ( Stöhr et al. 2016) , with five recorded from Brazil ( Barboza & Borges 2012): A. habilis Albuquerque, Campos-Creasey & Guille, 2001 , A. planispina (Von Martens, 1867) , A. pulchella ( Lyman, 1869) , A. riisei ( Lütken, 1859) and A. trychna H. L. Clark, 1918 .