Ophiernus vallincola Lyman, 1878

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 43-44

Ophiernus vallincola Lyman, 1878

Reports for the Azores:

Ophiernus vallincola $ Lyman, 1878: 122–123 , pl. 6, figs. 170–175, 1882: 32–33, pl. 24, figs. 16–18, pl. 38, figs. 6–9; Mortensen 1927a: 228; Madsen 1977: 112–114, fig. 2; $ Paterson 1985: 98–99, fig. 40; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49; Smirnov et al. 2014: 207–208;

Ophiernus abyssalis Koehler, 1896b: 242–243 ; $ Koehler 1909: 143–145, pl. 28, figs. 3, 4; Mortensen 1927a: 228.

Type locality: Azores (37°24’N, 25°13’W) .

See: Lyman (1878); Madsen (1977); Paterson (1985); Martynov & Litvinova (2008: 83, fig. 3D).

Occurrence: cosmopolitan, present in the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Southern ( Antarctica) Oceans; in the Atlantic from the Reykjanes Ridge area (S of Iceland; Martynov & Litvinova 2008) and the British Isles to Southern African waters ( Madsen 1977), including the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira ( Koehler 1909).

Depth: 840– 4,065 m ( Madsen 1977); AZO: 1,732 –1,919 m ( Koehler 1909).

Habitat: soft bottoms, muddy sand to ooze ( Koehler 1909).

Remarks: Lyman (1878) described Ophiernus vallincola based on material collected by H.M.S. Challenger selecting a specimen taken in Azores waters as the type. The only other material of this species from the archipelago was reported by Koehler (1909, as Ophiernus abyssalis ), collected by Princesse Alice at several stations.