species: Macrophiothrix leucosticha in Lizard Island area: all known taxa (Lizard Island Field Guide)
Lizard Island area: all known taxa > Animalia > Echinodermata > Ophiuroidea > Ophiurida > Ophiotrichidae > Macrophiothrix > Macrophiothrix leucosticha (gallery)
Macrophiothrix leucosticha


©Anne Hoggett: Macrophiothrix leucosticha at Lizard Island, found under rubble. Disc diameter about 15 mm. Note pale midline on arms.

©Anne Hoggett: Macrophiothrix leucosticha at Lizard Island. Disc diameter about 15 mm, arms about 200 mm long.

©Anne Hoggett: Under side of Macrophiothrix leucosticha disc. Lizard Island, disc diameter about 15 mm.

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Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Echinodermata
Class Ophiuroidea
Order Ophiurida
Family Ophiotrichidae
Genus Macrophiothrix
Species Macrophiothrix leucosticha

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Lizard Island Field Guide
Lizard Island area: all known taxa

Colours

              

Distinguishing features

A large, active brittlestar with extremely long arms. It is always completely concealed within coral or under rubble. It is the only Macrophiothrix species at Lizard Island with a single pale line running along the midline of each arm. Other characters used to distinguish the species cannot be seen in the field.

Size

  • Up to 24 cm (Length of specimen) - applies to Arm length
  • From 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm (Length of specimen) - applies to Disc diameter

Depth range

  • Depth range data is not yet available.

Synonyms

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Web resources

References

References that assist with identification

  • Hoggett, A.K. (1990). Taxonomy and systematic position of the brittlestar genus Macrophiothrix H.L. Clark (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PhD thesis, University of Queensland. LIRS catalog number 680.
  • Hoggett, A.K. (1991). The genus Macrophiothrix (Ophiuroidea: Ophiotrichidae) in Australian waters, Invertebrate Taxonomy, 4: 1077-1146. LIRS catalog number 293.

Other references

  • Hoggett, A.K. (1990). Taxonomy and systematic position of the brittlestar genus Macrophiothrix H.L. Clark (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea), Ph.D. thesis, University of Queensland. LIRS catalog number 680.