Ophioteichus H.L. Clark, 1938

Pineda-Enriquez, Tania, Solis-Marin, Francisco A. & Laguarda-Figueras, Alfredo, 2014, Revision of the genus Ophioteichus H. L. Clark, 1938 (Ophiuroidea: Ophiolepididae), Zootaxa 3784 (3), pp. 241-250 : 242

Genus Ophioteichus H.L. Clark, 1938

Diagnosis (modified after H.L. Clark, 1938). The disc is circular in outline and hemispherical in shape, thicker than the arms; covered with a coat of numerous scales which are smooth and more or less swollen; surrounded by belts of very small flat scales, with the marginal plates of the interradii greatly elevated into three or four tubercles and forming a low rampart around the disc. Accessory dorsal and ventral arm plates are present, which could be fragmented or not. A series of small pores occurs between the lateral margins of mature dorsal arm plates and the adjoining lateral arm plates. Oral papillae six, plus an unpaired conical papillae. The oral shield is wider than long, the proximal margin is pointed with concave sides, the lateral margin are convex and the distal margin is concave. Two or three tentacle scales per segment. Arm spines four to twelve, delicate, wide and overlapping laterally. The arm base is not conspicuously widened.

Remarks. The genus Ophioteichus is currently placed in the Family Ophiuridae but following Fell (1960) it must be placed in the Family Ophiolepididae , which currently includes 14 other genera (http:// www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea/ [ Stöhr and O’Hara, 2013]).