Taxonomic revision of Narcissia trigonaria Sladen, 1889 (Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Ophidiasteridae): a single species?

• Grant number: 17/05663-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2018
• End date: May 02, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Domingos Siqueira Tavares
• Grantee: Rosana Fernandes da Cunha
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/06311-1 - Inside the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution collections: unraveling the genus Narcissia gray, 1840 (Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Ophidiasteridae) from morphological studies, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Narcissia trigonaria Sladen, 1889, was described based on a juvenile specimen from the coast of Bahia, Brazil (Sladen, 1889). The use of juvenile specimens exclusively in the description of new species generates a series of difficulties linked, in short, to the great morphological variations that occur during an Asteroidea ontogeny. In the case of N. trigonaria, because it is the original specimen, obviously, the impossibility of assessing eventual intraspecific morphological variations. In addition, an original description of N. trigonaria contains a profusion of subjective references to morphological characters. The lack of measurement of some structures hinders the unambiguous understanding of the morphology and, consequently, future comparisons with other specimens and with other species. In fact, N. trigonaria Sladen, 1889 stricto sensu is very poorly known. Well more than a century after its original description, the species still today has never been redescribed based on adult specimens from the type locality (Bahia, Brazil). In fact, most of the works on N. trigonaria are restricted to records of geographic occurrence or highlight morphological discrepancies between specimens of different locations or with the characters of literature. Certainly, the accumulation of so many and such inaccuracies and a precarious morphological characterization of Narcissia trigonaria Sladen, 1889, str. s. Led to the situation we have today: a species with a wide geographical distribution (~20°N to 24°S) and morphologically diverse. This proposal has as general objective to review a taxonomy of N. trigonaria Sladen, 1889 lato sensu throughout its entire range of distribution from morphological studies. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CUNHA, ROSANA; TAVARES, MARCOS; DE MENDONCA JR, JOEL BRAGA. Asteroidea (Echinodermata) from shallow-waters of the remote oceanic archipelago Trindade and Martin Vaz, southeastern Atlantic, with taxonomic and zoogeographical notes. Zootaxa, v. 4742, n. 1, p. 31-56, FEB 19 2020. (17/05663-9, 18/06311-1)

CUNHA, ROSANA; TAVARES, MARCOS. review of the genus Narcissia Gray, 1840 (Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Ophidiasteridae. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, v. 101, n. 6, DEC 2021. (18/06311-1, 17/05663-9)