Ophiochiton ternispinus Lyman 1883

Ophiochiton ternispinus Lyman, 1883 Reports for the Azores:

Ophiochiton solutum $ Koehler, 1906a: 16–17, pl. 2, figs. 22–23, 1906b: 269–271, pl. 20, figs. 39–40;

Ophiochiton solutus Koehler, 1906 a—Mortensen 1927a: 224;

Ophiochiton ternispinus Lyman, 1883 — Paterson 1985: 96–98, fig. 39; Alva & Vadon 1989: 840; Martynov & Litvinova 2008: 104–107, fig. 17H; Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011: 331–332; Smirnov et al. 2014: 208.

Type locality: southwest of Ireland.

See: Lyman (1883: 255); Paterson (1985); Borges & Amaral (2007: 858); Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011).

Occurrence: Atlantic Ocean, in the west from the Davis Strait (Mortensen 1933a) south through the NE American coasts to Brazil (Borges & Amaral 2007), including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea and in east from SE of Iceland (Mortensen 1933a) to Namibia (Alva & Vadon 1989), including the Azores (Koehler, 1906b).

Depth: 256– 2,220 m (Koehler, 1906 b, Alva & Vadon 1989); AZO: 2,155 –2,220 m (Koehler, 1906b).

Habitat: soft substrates (Borges & Amaral 2007).

Remarks: Koehler (1906a, b) described Ophiochiton solutus (= O. solutum) based on the specimens collected by Talisman at the NW African coast (type locality) and the Azores (sta 129, 1883: 38°00’N, 27°02’46”W, 2,155 –2,220 m). Later, Paterson (1985) found this species to be identical with O. ternispinus and established the synonymy.