Tamaria Gray, 1840

Gray 1840: 283; H.L. Clark 1921: 88; Downey 1971: 43; 1973: 64; Clark & Downey 1992: 283.

Comments. Tamaria is a genus of Ophidiasteridae defined on the basis of the presence of six longitudinal papular rows. Tamaria currently includes18 species (Mah 2018) and is distributed primarily in the Indo-Pacific, with two species known from the Atlantic. Many Tamaria species occur at relatively deep depths for ophidiasterids (e.g., H.E.S. Clark & McKnight 2001) and occur at mesophotic settings or deeper.

H.L. Clark (1921) provided an overview and key to the species of Tamaria. Clark & Rowe (1971) provided a key to the Indo-Pacific species. Work herein synonymizes the East Pacific Tamaria stria with Linckia columbiae and assigns Tamaria passiflora to the new genus Astroglypha. Boundaries for some species in the genus Tamaria have been uncertain due to character variation in papular rows in related genera. For example, some species in the genus Ophidiaster, which is identified on the basis of eight papular rows can be easily confused with Tamaria owing to incomplete papular rows which can be present proximally, but can “pinch out” midway along the arm.