Democrinus parfaiti Perrier 1883

Democrinus parfaiti Perrier, 1883b Reports for the Azores:

non Rhizocrinus rawsoni Pourtalès, 1874 — $ Carpenter 1883b: 173–175, 1884: 262–269, pl. 9, figs. 3–5, pl. 10, figs. 3–20, pl. 53, figs. 7–8 [misidentification]; $ Koehler 1909: 255–256 [misidentification];? $ Pérès 1992: 256;

Democrinus parfaiti (Perrier, 1883b) — Mortensen 1927a: 20, fig. 8; $ A.M. Clark 1977: 172–177, fig. 3; A.M. Clark 1980: 205, fig. 1; $ Roux 1985: 480–481; Harvey et al. 1988: 157; Mironov et al. 2014: 116;

non Democrinus rawsonii (Pourtalès, 1874) — García-Diez et al. 2005: 46 [based on Koehler 1909].

Type locality: Cape Blanc, NW Africa.

See: Perrier (1883b); A.M. Clark (1977); Harvey et al. (1988).

Occurrence: Northeast Atlantic, from the Azores eastwards between 24°N and 50°N including the archipelagos of Madeira and Canaries, as well as the Ormond Seamount (Roux 1985, Mironov et al. 2014).

Depth: 870(?650)– 4,260 m (A.M. Clark 1977; Mironov 2014); AZO: 1,550 –1,919 (?2,950) m (Koehler 1909, Pérès 1992).

Habitat: pteropod or Globigerina ooze, mud, gravel to rocky bottoms (A.M. Clark 1977).

Remarks: almost as soon as it was described by Perrier (1883b) Democrinus parfaiti was considered by Carpenter (1883 a, 1884) as conspecific with the Caribbean Rhizocrinus rawsonii (= Democrinus rawsonii Pourtalès, 1874), based on inaccurate figures exchanged by the two authors (A.M. Clark 1977). The latter species was reported for the first time to the Azores by Carpenter (1883b, 1884) based on the material collected by H.M.S. Challenger (sta 76: 38°11’N, 27°09’W, 1,645 m). At the time, Carpenter (1883b) attributed deviations from the typical R. rawsonii observed in the Azorean material to water temperature differences. Following the previous author, Koehler (1909) identified Princesse Alice ’s material from the Azores as R. rawsonii, though observing that the cruise material was quite close to the specimens described by Perrier (1883b) as D. parfaiti. On the redescription of the later species, A.M. Clark (1977) re-examined the material from the Azores collected by H.M.S. Challenger and placed it under D. parfaiti (an East Atlantic species). Without material of the Caribbean species for comparison and based on the historical bibliography, A.M. Clark concluded that D. parfaiti was distinguished by the conical shape of the calyx, by the indistinct or faint sutures between the ossicles in the calyx and by the presence of an abrupt constriction across the radials. Recently, Mironov et al. (2014) remarked that Carpenter (1884) could have been correct in considering the species conspecific, but unfortunately did not give any further details. Regardless, the reports of D. rawsonii to the archipelago were based on the assumption that this species was conspecific with D. parfaiti, thus are considered herein to be erroneous. Additionally, during two dives made by the bathyscaphe Archimède north of S„o Miguel and West of Santa Maria, Pérès (1992) observed stalked crinoids that he believed to be D. rawsonii (= Rhizocrinus rawsoni), which were quite abundant at depths 2,630 and 2,950 m.