Ophioplinthaca defensor Koehler, 1930

Nethupul, Hasitha, Stoehr, Sabine & Zhang, Haibin, 2022, Review of Ophioplinthaca Verrill, 1899 (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea, Ophiacanthidae), description of new species in Ophioplinthaca and Ophiophthalmus, and new records from the Northwest Pacific and the South China Sea, ZooKeys 1099, pp. 155-202 : 155

Ophioplinthaca defensor Koehler, 1930

Fig. 14

Ophioplinthaca defensor Koehler, 1930: 84-86, pl. 9, figs1, 2; Na et al. 2021: 3-6, figs 2, 4.

Material examined.

Northwest Pacific • 1 specimen; near Mariana Trench, Southwest of Guam Island, seamount; 12°8.83'N, 139°0.37'E; depth 1987 m; 27 November 2020; Collecting event: stn. SC041; Shenhaiyongshi msv leg; preserved in -80°C; GenBank: OK043836 ; IDSSE-EEB-SW0112 .

Distribution.

385-2000 m depth, Southwest of Guam Island, Caiwei Guyot, Weijia Guyot, Batiza Guyot, Northwest Pacific, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tasman Sea.

Remarks.

Ophioplinthaca defensor was first described by Koehler (1930) based on a single specimen. However, Na et al. (2021) provided rich details of morphological variation from juvenile to adult O. defensor , and the specimen from our collection concurs with their intraspecific morphological variations (Fig. 14I-Q ).

Figures

Figure 14. Ophioplinthaca semele (A. H Clark, 1949) (IDSSE-EEB-SW 0113: A-H) A dorsal disc B ventral disc C center of the disc D radial shield E oral frame F ventral arm G dorsal arm H lateral arm; Ophioplinthaca defensor Koehler, 1930 (IDSSE-EEB-SW 0112: I-Q) I dorsal disc J ventral disc K center of the disc L disc spine M oral frame N lateral disc O dorsal arm P ventral arm Q lateral arm. Abbreviations: as adoral shield, dap dorsal arm plate, das dorsal arm spine, gs genital slit, j jaw, lap lateral arm plate, m madreporite, os oral shield, rs radial shield, ts tentacle scale, vap ventral arm plate, vas ventral arm spine. Scale bars: 2 mm (I); 1 mm (A, B, F-H, J, N-P); 500 µm (C-E, K, M, Q); 200 µm (L).