How to translate text using browser tools
11 May 2021 The asteroid species of Lamarck (Echinodermata: Asteroidea)
Michel Jangoux
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Zoologist Péron and artist Lesueur, both members of the scientific staff of the Baudin expedition to the Southern Lands (September 1800-March 1804), collected during their voyage 36 different species of asteroids. This is what wrote Lamarck in a report made in June 1804. This number was clearly reduced by Lamarck himself who, in his 1816 publication, listed only 15 species from the South Seas in the Paris Museum collection. However, the different asteroids collected during the expedition were drawn by Lesueur (water colours and pencil drawings) who thus realised a real pictorial register. Lesueur's drawings are housed in the Le Havre Museum. Due to their realism and precision, the drawings make it easy to identify the species. Confrontation of Lamarck's report (1804) and publication (1816) with Lesueur's drawings (done between 1802 and 1804) gives a new, more precise idea of the importance of the collection of South Seas asteroids brought back to France and allows to reliably count the number of new species that it contained. Also, this makes it possible to complete the often too brief descriptions of some Lamarckian species and to clarify their status. Eleven taxonomic changes are thus proposed here: Asterias calcar var. quinqueangula is synonymized with Parvulastra exigua (Lamarck, 1816), Asterias calcitrapa var. 1 with Bollonaster pectinatus (Sladen, 1883), Asterias calcitrapa var. 2 with Astropecten vappaMüller & Troschel, 1843, Asterias nodosa var. 3 with Protoreaster lincki (Blainville, 1830), Asterias pentagonula with Tosia australisGray, 1840, Asterias pleyadella with Protoreaster sp., Asterias punctata with Asteropsis carinifera (Lamarck, 1816), Asterias rosacea var. lobis senis with Anseropoda sp., Asteriscus setaceus with Paranepanthia grandis (H. L. Clark, 1928), Astrogonium lamarckiiMüller & Troschel, 1842 with Goniaster tessellatus (Lamarck, 1816) and Asterias cuspidata is moved to the genus Mediaster Stimpson, 1857 as Mediaster cuspidatus (Lamarck, 1816) n. comb.

© Publications scientifiques du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
Michel Jangoux "The asteroid species of Lamarck (Echinodermata: Asteroidea)," Zoosystema 43(13), 213-252, (11 May 2021). https://doi.org/10.5252/zoosystema2021v43a13
Received: 24 February 2020; Accepted: 11 May 2020; Published: 11 May 2021
JOURNAL ARTICLE
40 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
Asteroidea
Australia
Baudin expedition
Echinodermeta
Lesueur
new combination
new synonymies
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top