Ophiocoma cynthiae BENAVIDES-SERRATO & O’HARA, 2008

(UF-6335, Fig. 4 a, KC759867)

Material. 2 spms, St. 1; 9 spms, St. 3; 7 spms, St. 5; 5 spms, St. 8

Remarks. This species is the latest described from the ‘ O. erinaceus’ complex (O’Hara et al. 2004). This complex was shown to include at least three forms: Ophiocoma erinaceus Müller and Troschel, 1842, Ophiocoma schoenleinii Müller and Troschel, 1842 and O. cynthiae. Ophiocoma erinaceus is readily distinguishable from the other two by its bright red tube feet (white in alcohol), compared with the dark podia of O. cynthiae and O. schoenleinii. The latter two species can be distinguished by the lack of granules on the ventral disc surface (except for a few near the genital plates) and by the presence of two tentacle scales along the arm beyond the first couple of segments for O. cynthiae. In O. schoenleinii, the granules persist as a wedge near the ventral margin and only one wide tentacle scale is present beyond the first couple of segments (Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara 2008). COI sequence data show little genetic differentiation across the range of this species (Hoareau et al. 2013). Abundance: 3.

Distribution. This new record from the Mascarenes extends the range of this species, previously recorded from the Great Barrier Reef to Tonga (Benavides-Serrato & O’Hara 2008). It is much more abundant than O. erinaceus at Réunion. Previous studies in the Mascarenes likely misidentified this species as O. erinaceus.

a) Ophiocoma cynthiae; b) Ophiocoma erinaceus; c) Ophiocoma erinaceus oral side; d) Ophiocoma scolopendrina; e) Ophiocoma pica; f) Ophiocoma pusilla; g) Ophiocomella sexradia; h) Ophionereis porrecta complex sp. 1; i) Ophionereis porrecta complex sp. 2