Amphipholis squamata ( Delle Chiaje 1828 )

O’Hara, Timothy D. & Thuy, Ben, 2022, Biogeography and taxonomy of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from the Îles Saint- Paul and Amsterdam in the southern Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 5124 (1), pp. 1-49 : 38-39

Amphipholis squamata ( Delle Chiaje 1828)

Asteria squamata Delle Chiaje, 1828: 74 .

Amphipholis squamata .— Mortensen 1933a: 364–365.—Clark, A.M. 1976: 258.— Olbers et al. 2019: 217–218, fig. 214–215. Ophiactis minor Döderlein, 1910: 253 , pl. 5(3–3a) [see Mortensen 1933b].

Amphipholis minor .— Hertz 1927a: 35.

Material examined. MD 50 DC2, MNHN IE.2009.1522 (2). MD 50 WP4, MNHN IE.2009.1523 (1). MD 50 DC8, MNHN IE.2009.1524 (5). MD 50 DC44, MNHN IE.2009.1525 (16). MD 50 DC59, MNHN IE.2009.1526 (4). MD 50 DC71, MNHN IE.2009.1527 (2). MD 50 DC79, MNHN IE.2009.1528 (2). MD 50 DC105, MNHN IE.2009.1529 (1). MD 50 DC114, MNHN IE.2009.1530 (1). MD 50 CP149, MNHN IE.2009.1531 (9). MD 50 DC157, MNHN IE.2009.1532 (21). MD 50 DC167, MNHN IE.2009.1533 (1).

Distribution. Arctic (29–2369 m), NW Atlantic (0–1962 m), NE Atlantic (0–1560 m), NW Pacific (0–413 m), NE Pacific (0–933 m), W Atlantic (0–353 m), E Atlantic (0–741 m), W Indian (0–750 m), E Indo-W Pacific (0–694 m), E Pacific (0–46 m), S America (0–134 m), S Africa (0–1600 m), S Australia (0–841 m), New Zealand (2–1059 m). SPA (3–1600 m).

Remarks. Amphipholis squamata is a polyphyletic ( O’Hara et al. 2017) assemblage of numerous genetic lineages ( Boissin et al. 2008). Only synonyms relevant to the SPA are listed above. The wide bathymetric range of the MD50 samples suggests that several lineages may be present in the SPA. Hertz (1927a) named her specimens A. minor after a South African lineage, however, the diagnostic characters used by Döderlein (1910) to distinguish this species were inadequate ( Mortensen 1933a). The MD50 material is small and damaged.