Nepanthia , Gray 1840
Creators: name: O'Loughlin, P. Mark
name: Waters, Jonathan M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Echinodermata
Asteroidea
Valvatida
Asterinidae
Nepanthia

description: Nepanthia Gray
Figures 2j, 4f, 6c, 14a–c
Nepanthia Gray, 1840: 287.— Sladen, 1889: 386–387.— Verrill, 1913: 480.— Fisher, 1940: 270–271.— Fisher, 1941: 451–155, figs, 20–22, pl. 70 fig. 2.— Spencer and Wright, 1966: U69.— Rowe and Marsh, 1982: 93.—A.M. Clark, 1983: 370.—A.M. Clark, 1993: 220.— Liao and Clark, 1995: 132–133.— Rowe, 1995: 36–37.— McKnight (in Clark and McKnight), 2001: 158.
Asterina (Nepanthia) Perrier, 1875: 320.
Diagnosis. Rays 4–7, subcylindrical, to varying degrees flat actinally with distinct to slight marginal edge; plates on upper rays irregular in arrangement; secondary plates present; abactinal and actinal interradial plates with dense clusters of thick or thin glassy spinelets, frequently on spinelet-bearing elevations; pedicellariae present; glassy convexities on plates; inferomarginal plates projecting slightly; oblique series of actinal plates variably evident; furrow spines 6 and more per plate; actinal spines predominantly thin, glassy, sometimes sacciform; superambulacral, transactinal and superactinal plates present, embedded in interior resinous lining in most species.
Type species. Nepanthia maculata Gray, 1840 (restriction by Perrier, 1875; subsequent designation by Verrill, 1913).
Other species. N. belcheri (Perrier, 1875) (junior synonym: N. variabilis H.L. Clark, 1938 by Rowe and Marsh, 1982); N. crassa (Gray, 1847); N. fisheri Rowe and Marsh, 1982; N. pedicellaris Fisher, 1913.
Material examined. N. belcheri. Queensland, Magnetic I., NMV F97721 (1); Western Australia, Dampier, F 95806 (1); Exmouth Gulf, F 95805 (1).
N. crassa. Western Australia, Fremantle, AM J6165 (1); Ludlow Reef, J7418 (1).
N. fisheri. Timor Sea, AM J12649 (1).
N. maculata. Australia, Timor Sea, AM J13918 (2); Gulf of Carpentaria, J7404 (2); J10536 (1); J13063 (1).
N. pedicellaris. Holotype. Philippines, USNM 32643.
N. variabilis. Paratypes. Western Australia, Broome, AM J6187 (4).
Description with species variations. Rays 4–7, elongate, subcylindrical, equal or unequal lengths, tapering strongly (fisheri, pedicellaris) or slightly; large (maculata up to R = 94 mm) to small (pedicellaris up to R = 23 mm); integument variably evident; flat actinally, distinct to slight edge at margin; pedicellariae present, 2-valve (fisheri, maculata, pedicellaris) or multi-valve (belcheri, crassa); fissiparous (belcheri) or not.
Abactinal plates strongly imbricating, projecting proximal edge creating uneven surface, irregularly arranged on upper rays, in regular longitudinal sloping series on sides of rays; plates predominantly irregular in shape (crassa) or notched (belcheri, fisheri, maculata, pedicellaris), with spinelet-bearing curved elevations above notch (belcheri, pedicellaris) or raised ridges (fisheri, maculata) or domes (crassa), lower surface with glassy convexities; disc variably bordered; papulate areas extend to near margin; papular spaces with 1–2 large papulae and 1–8 secondary plates per space; spinelets thin, glassy, variably sacciform (fisheri, maculata, pedicellaris), some splay-pointed distally (belcheri, crassa), up to more than 40 per plate; variably regular superomarginal plates, inferomarginal series of plates project slightly at margin, covered with spinelets.
Actinal plates with spine-bearing elevations, variably in oblique series.
Actinal spines per plate: oral 9–10; suboral about 10–26, tall and short; furrow 6–10; subambulacral 6–20; complete series of adradial actinal spines; interradial actinal 4–6 or dense subpaxilliform clusters, glassy, thin (belcheri), thick and thin (crassa), sometimes sacciform (fisheri, maculata, pedicellaris).
Superambulacral, transactinal and superactinal plates present, embedded in internal resinous lining or not (pedicellaris).
Distribution. N, S, E and W Australia, Lord Howe I., Indonesia, Timor Sea, New Guinea, W Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Burma, Mergui Archipelago, 0– 123 m.
Remarks. Molecular data are not available for any species of Nepanthia and this review is based on a morphological examination. Six species previously assigned to Nepanthia are removed to Pseudonepanthia. The morphological characters which distinguish Nepanthia from Pseudonepanthia are: rays flat actinally, with a marginal edge; presence of secondary plates, pedicellariae and glassy convexities; furrow spines six and more per plate; presence of transactinal and superactinal plates.
Nepanthia pedicellaris Fisher, 1913 was referred by Fisher (1919) to Asterinopsis Verrill, 1913 (a nomen dubium). We return it to Nepanthia.
description: Published as part of O'Loughlin, P. Mark & Waters, Jonathan M., 2004, A molecular and morphological revision of genera of Asterinidae (Echinodermata: Asteroidea), pp. 1-40 in Memoirs of Museum Victoria 61 (1) on pages 23-25, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2004.61.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10665495