New records and new species of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia Author Stöhr, Sabine text Zootaxa 2011 3089 1 50 journal article 46062 10.5281/zenodo.279037 9be0b0af-4593-4eaf-85c6-438539d8fbd0 1175-5326 279037 Ophiotreta valenciennesi ( Lyman, 1878 ) Material. Sta. CP1646: 4 spms. Remarks. Currently, two subspecies are recognized within O . valenciennesi , the nominate Indo-Pacific form and the Atlanto-Mediterranean O . valenciennesi rufescens Koehler, 1896 . The differences between these are more rugose disk granules and longer adoral shields in the nominate subspecies ( Paterson 1985 ). Mortensen (1933b) observed a large variability in the oral shields of Atlantic specimens, which he referred to rufescens , because he found them different from typical valenciennesi . This distinction cannot be maintained though, since Pacific specimens fall within the variability of rufescens ( O'Hara & Stöhr 2006 , and Lifou material). Given the high variability of several characters it is possible that these forms represent a species complex, but a subspecies distinction cannot be maintained. The delimitation of Ophiotreta from Ophiacantha rests mainly on the usually spatulate shape of the distal oral papilla in Ophiotreta ( Verrill 1899b ) . This character has however also been shown for Ophiacantha bidentata (Bruzelius, 1805) , the type species of Ophiacantha ( Martynov & Litvinova 2008 ) . Another generic character, the flat and serrated arm spines, is shared by Ophiopristis , of which Ophiotreta originally was a subgenus (Verrill 1899), and by Ophiocopa , suggesting possible affinities between these genera, which were placed in three different subfamilies ( Paterson 1985 ). This may be additional evidence supporting Martynov's (2010b) decision to drop the subfamilies.