Heliaster
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Heliaster is a genus of Asteroidea (sea stars) in the family Heliasteridae.
Species
| Image | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Heliaster canopusPerrier, 1875 | South Pacific Ocean | |
| Heliaster cumingi(Gray, 1840) | Gulf of California | |
| Heliaster helianthus(Lamarck, 1816) | southeastern Pacific Ocean | |
| Heliaster kubinijiXantus, 1860 | eastern Pacific Ocean | |
| Heliaster microbrachiusXantus, 1860 | east Pacific | |
| Heliaster polybrachiusH.L. Clark, 1907 | Gulf of California | |
| Heliaster solarisA.H. Clark, 1920 | Española Island in the Galápagos Islands. |
Fossil record
Whole specimens of Heliaster microbrachius have been found preserved in calcite-cemented quartz in Southwest Florida that dates to the Pliocene, 3.5 to 2.5 million years ago (Castilla et al. 2013). Today H. microbrachius is found only in the Pacific Ocean: on the coast of Panama, and Acapulco in Mexico. This suggests that greater connection between the two oceans gave the species a more extensive range in the past (Castilla et al. 2013).
- Castilla, Juan Carlos, Sergio A. Navarrete, Tatiana Manzur, and Mario Barahona. 2013. Heliaster helianthus. Chapter 15, pp. 153–160 in John M. Lawrence, ed. 2013. Starfish. Biology and Ecology of the Asteroidea. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- Gray J.E. (1840). A synopsis of the genera and species of the class Hypostoma (Asterias Linnaeus). Annals of the Magazine of Natural History 6: 175-184; 275-290
External links
- Media related to Heliaster at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Heliaster at Wikispecies