A New Species of Asterostegus (Echinodermata : Ophiuroidea) from the Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The euryalinid genus Asterostegus (Echinodermata : Ophiuroidea) has been known only from a single specimen of the type species A. tuberculatus, collected in South African waters. A second species, Asterostegus maini, is now described from the Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean. Asterostegus maini differs from the type species in having tubercles more or less restricted to the outer half of the radial shields, a wider bare dorsal arm surface, often more than two tubercles on the proximal dorsolateral plates, and a single row of ventral disc plates interradially.