Comasterinae

Underside of Comanthus mirabilis, copyright Lyle Vail and Anne Hoggett.

Belongs within: Comatulida.

The Comasterinae are a group of feather stars with a marginal or submarginal mouth and much-divided arms.

Characters (from Weinberg Rasmussen 1978): Centrodorsal discoidal, moderate to low, with or without a central depression. Cirrus sockets in one to three irregular circles, or absent. Cirri well developed and stout, or small and weak or reduced. Some or all cirri with spine or tubercle on distal cirrals. Centrodorsal in adult specimens sometimes reduced to a small, stellate plate, slightly or not projecting below radial circlet, and with few, commonly reduced cirrus sockets or without sockets. Radials with low, free surface or concealed in specimens with unreduced centrodorsal; overhanging and with trapezoidal surface when centrodorsal is reduced. Articular face of radials with interarticular ligament fossae high and wide. Ventral muscular fossae low, not projecting at interradial edge, forming narrow bands along almost horizontal ventral edge and slightly curved downward along wide midradial furrow. Arms divided at primibrachs 2 and always further divided, often several times, with intervals of four or, variably, four and two. Brachials 1 to 2 synarthrial except in Comaster, where juvenile cryptosynarthry is commonly changed during growth to a smooth articular face or a syzygy with radiating ridges or a concentric pattern of tubercles. Pinnular comb present not only in oral pinnules but also in some genital pinnules. Mouth marginal or submarginal.

<==Comasterinae
    |--Comantheria Clark 1909 WR78
    |    `--*C. briareus (Bell 1884) [=Antedon briareus] WR78
    |--Comanthina Clark 1909 WR78
    |    `--C. schlegelii Carpenter 1881 (see below for synonymy) WR78
    |--Comaster Agassiz 1836 [incl. Phanogenia Lovén 1866] WR78
    |    |--*C. multiradiata (Lamarck 1816) [=Comatula multiradiata; incl. Alecto multifida Müller 1841] WR78
    |    |--C. brevicirrus (Bell 1894) WR78, MG-H11 [=Phanogenia brevicirra MG-H11]
    |    |--C. formae WR78
    |    |--C. fruticosus WR78
    |    |--‘Phanogenia’ gracilis (Hartlaub 1893) MG-H11
    |    |--‘Phanogenia’ schoenovi (Clark 1909) MG-H11
    |    |--C. seranensis WR78
    |    `--‘*Phanogenia’ typica Lovén 1866 WR78
    `--Comanthus Clark 1908 (see below for synonymy) WR78
         |--C. parvicirrus (Müller 1841) [=Alecto parvicirra; incl. *C. intricata Clark 1908] WR78
         |--‘Alecto’ benneti Müller 1841 [=*Bennetia benneti] WR78
         |--C. gisleni Rowe, Hoggett et al. 1986 MG-H11
         |--C. japonicus BL78
         |--C. mirabilis (Rowe, Hogget et al. 1986) LR06
         |--‘Goldfussia’ multiradiata Norman 1891 WR78
         |--C. schlegelii (Carpenter 1881) LR06
         |--‘Comatula’ trichoptera Müler 1846 [=*Cenolia trichoptera] WR78
         `--C. wahlbergii (Müller 1843) MG-H11

Comanthina schlegelii Carpenter 1881 [=Actinometra schlegelii; incl. A. nobilis Carpenter 1888, *Comanthina nobilis] WR78

Comanthus Clark 1908 [incl. Bennetia Clark 1909, Cenolia Clark 1916, Goldfussia Norman 1891 non Castelnau 1843, Validia Clark 1909, Vania Clark 1911] WR78

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BL78] Breimer, A., & N. G. Lane. 1978. Ecology and paleoecology. In: Moore, R. C., & C. Teichert (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea vol. 1 pp. T316–T347. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).

[LR06] Lanterbecq, D., G. W. Rouse, M. C. Milinkovitch & I. Eeckhaut. 2006. Molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate multiple independent emergences of parasitism in Myzostomida (Protostomia). Systematic Biology 55 (2): 208–227.

[MG-H11] McEnnulty, F. R., K. L. Gowlett-Holmes, A. Williams, F. Althaus, J. Fromont, G. C. B. Poore, T. D. O’Hara, L. Marsh, P. Kott, S. Slack-Smith, P. Alderslade & M. V. Kitahara. 2011. The deepwater megabenthic invertebrates on the western continental margin of Australia (100–1100 m depths): composition, distribution and novelty. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 80: 1–191.

[WR78] Wienberg Rasmussen, H. 1978. Articulata. In: Moore, R. C., & C. Teichert (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea vol. 3 pp. T813–T927. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).