Basket star
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Asteronychidae |
Basket stars are a group of brittle stars. They are treated as a suborder Euryalina[1] or order Euryalida[2]. Many of them have characteristic many-branched arms.
The basket stars are the largest ophiuroids (Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni can measure up to 70 cm in arm length with a disk diameter of 14 cm)[3].
[edit] Systematics and phylogeny
An early Mesozoic origin has been suggested for basket stars, based on a combined morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence[4]. In spite of this, the fossil record of this group is rather poor and only dates back to Carboniferous[5]. Basket stars are divided into the following families:
- Asteronychidae
- Asteroschematidae
- Gorgonocephalidae
- Euryalidae
[edit] References
- ^ Euryalina (TSN 157345). Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- ^ Smith, A.B.; Paterson, G.L.J. . Ophiuroid phylogeny and higher taxonomy: morphological, molecular and palaeontological perspectives. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 114 (1995)
- ^ Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, vol 1, Gale Cengage 2003
- ^ Smith, A.B.; Paterson, G.L.J. . Ophiuroid phylogeny and higher taxonomy: morphological, molecular and palaeontological perspectives. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 114 (1995)
- ^ E.Clarkson, E. N.K. Clarkson, Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution. Wiley-Blackwell; 4.ed. (1998)
