The Asterinid sea stars of Tasmania

Abstract

The ten species of sea stars of the family Asterinidae occurring in Tasmania are considered. Synonymies, locality lists and distributional data are given. Patiriella gunnii (Gray) is redescribed and lectotypes designated. Some account of characters distinguishing P. gunnii and Patiriella brevispina H. L. Clark is provided. A key to the species is presented and some account of the zoogeography of the Tasmanian species given, attention being drawn to the existence of pairs of sibling species in the group.