Ailsastra achituvi, O'Loughlin & Rowe, 2005

O'Loughlin, P. Mark & Rowe, Francis W. E., 2005, A new asterinid genus from the Indo-West Pacific region, including five new species (Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Asterinidae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2), pp. 181-189 : 182-183

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.6
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AE7635-470B-2032-FD14-62C1FF4FF82C
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Ailsastra achituvi
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Ailsastra achituvi View in CoL sp. nov.

Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 2a View Figure 2 , 3a View Figure 3 , 4 View Figure 4 a-c

Asterina burtoni View in CoL . — Clark and Rowe, 1971: 70, table 1 (part: specimen 1951.5.7.12) (non Asterina burtoni Gray, 1840 View in CoL ).

Material examined. Holotype (in alcohol). Sudanese Red Sea, Khor Inkeifail, on coral, Manihine Collections, 29 Dec 1950, NHM 1951.5.7.12.

Diagnosis. Ailsastra with, at R = 10 mm, discrete rays, medium length, wide at base, strongly tapered, rounded distally, R /r about 1.9; carinal series of plates narrowly visible, below adcarinal plates; 6 longitudinal series of papulae across mid-ray; spinelets splay-pointed, subsacciform to conical, up to 0.15 mm long; inferomarginal spinelets twice the length of superomarginal spinelets; up to 6 interradial actinal spines per plate.

Description. 5 rays, R = 10 mm; integument evident; rays discrete, wide at base, tapered, rounded distally, R /r about 1.9; single madreporite, not fissiparous. Carinal series of plates narrowly visible, below adcarinal plates, doubly papulate, other ray plates slightly incurved proximally for 1 papula, 2 longitudinal series of papulae on each upper side of ray, 6 longitudinal series across mid-ray; disc close to regularly defined by 5 radial, 5 interradial plates; spinelets glassy, splay-pointed, subsacciform to conical, up to 14 spinelets in single or double series across proximal edge of plate, spinelets up to 0.15 mm long, 3–6 on distal interradial plates, proximal and distal spinelets subequal; some spinelets may act as pedicellariae, but not differentiated as valves; up to about 6 superomarginal spinelets per plate, up to about 14 inferomarginal spinelets per plate, longest distally, about twice length of superomarginal spinelets. Actinal spines per plate: oral 5; suboral 0–1; furrow (proximal) 3–4; subambulacral 3; adradial actinal 4–6; interradial 4–6; interradial spines glassy, conical, splay-pointed, in webbed tufts.

Distribution. Sudanese Red Sea.

Etymology. Named in recognition of the research on the asterinids of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea by Dr Yair Achituv of the Bar Ilan University in Israel.

Remarks. The carinal plate arrangement and oral structure are consistent with this unique asterinid combination in the Ailsastra type species A. paulayi . The single specimen was not dissected. An absence of superambulacral and superactinal plates was not confirmed. Molecular data are not available for A. achituvi .