Holanthus expergitus subsp. expergitus expergitus (Loven 1874

Erroneous— Holanthus expergitus expergitus (Lovén, 1874) Reports for the Azores:

Hemiaster expergitus Lovén, 1874 — Agassiz 1881: 186; Mortensen 1907: 97–107, figs. 16–18, pl. 2, figs. 1, 4, 18, 20, pl. 4, figs. 6–8, 10–12, pl. 15, figs. 9, 16–18, 24, 26, 30–31, 35, 38, 44–45, 47–48, 50, 1927a: 323–324, figs. 186, 187.1, 1950: 387–389; Koehler 1909: 247; Gage et al. 1985: 186; Koukouras et al. 2007: 82.

Type locality: Portugal (38°07’N, 9°18’W).

See: Lovén (1874: 13–17); Mortensen (1907); Mironov (2014: 127).

Occurrence: Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic (Tortonese 1965), from the Davis Strait to the Caribbean and eastwards from Iceland to Namibia, including Cape Verde (Mortensen 1907, 1927a, b, 1950, Chesher 1966, Mironov 2014); other subspecies are reported from the Pacific and Indian Oceans (Serafy & Fell 1985).

Depth: 380– 4,833 m (Serafy & Fell 1985), though mainly at depths below than 1,000 m (Grieg 1932).

Habitat: buried about 12 cm from the surface of soft sediment (sand, mud to ooze; Farran 1913, Grieg 1932).

Remarks: Lovén (1871) stated that he had found a new Hemiaster among the material collected at the Josephine Bank. Later, in the description of the species Lovén (1974) corrects to ‘c. Lisbon’, Portugal (Josephine: 38°07’N, 9°18’W, 970 m). Agassiz (1881) commented that H.M.S. Challenger also collected specimens of a Hemiaster near Lovén’s type locality, which Agassiz referred to as ‘near the Azores’. However, none of the two H.M.S. Challenger stations were located near the archipelago, but in Canaries (sta 8, off Gomera) and Brazilian waters (sta 126: 10°46’S, 36°08’W) instead. In the species distributional overview Agassiz (1881) does not mention the Azores and place Lovén’s and H.M.S. Challenger specimens where they were originally recorded. Whether subsequent references to the archipelago are related with the initial misprint by Agassiz or to another (unreported) record, we were unable to verify.