Ophiopsila aranea Forbes, 1843 — Koehler 1909: 182, 1921b: 95–96, fig. 63; Mortensen 1927a: 180–181, fig. 101: Tortonese 1965: 253–255, fig. 116; Madsen 1970: 222, fig. 40; Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 2002: 282–283; Micael & Costa 2010: 322; Micael et al. 2012: 3.

Type locality: Mediterranean Sea.

See: Forbes (1843: 149, pl. 14, figs. 1–7); Koehler (1921b); Mortensen (1927a).

Occurrence: Mediterranean Sea and East Atlantic, in the Atlantic from the British Islands to the Gulf of Guinea (Mortensen 1927a, Madsen 1970), including Madeira, the Selvagens, Canaries, Cape Verde, and the Seine Seamount (Koehler 1906b, 1909, Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 2002, 2003).

Depth: 8–185 m (Koehler 1909, Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 2002).

Habitat: on coralligenous and detritic bottoms, among algae and sea-grass prairies or hidden in crevices (Tortonese 1965).

Remarks: Koehler (1906b) reported material belonging to Ophiopsila aranea collected by Talisman in several stations located in the Bay of Biscay, Madeira and Cape Verde. Later, Koehler (1909) listed a specimen collected by Princesse Alice from Seine Seamount (sta 2034: 33°47’40”N, 14°21’W, 185 m). However, in the discussion of the geographical distribution of O. aranea, Koehler (1909) stated that this Mediterranean species was collected in the Azores by Talisman and taken again by Princesse Alice in the same waters. It is clear that Koehler mistook the stations’ location from both cruises, an error overlooked in subsequent literature.