Sabine Stöhr

Swedish Museum of Natural History · Department of Zoology

Accurate knowledge of geographic ranges of species is essential for effective conservation management. Species with large distributions and good connectivity are presumed to be resilient to adverse localized/regional conditions, whereas those with small ranges and, thus, smaller population sizes are more likely to be vulnerable. The rich benthic as...

The Southern Ocean benthos is remarkably rich and diverse, and managed under a complexity of treaties and conventions, further complicated by geopolitical boundaries. Traditionally, conservation management is largely informed by species lists augmented, when data are available, by known vulnerability of the taxa. Species presence absence database r...

The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for "inappropriate" names. It is evident that such proposals co...

Recently, new insights have been gained from the ophiuroid skeleton that were instrumental in the inference of a new phylogeny. The so far least studied ossicles are the adradial and abradial genital plates and the radial shields, which articulate with each other and support the genital slit and disc. In addition, the inner sides of the oral shield...

Analysis of genital plate morphology across the diversity of Ophiuroidea, used to improve the morphological phylogeny reconstruction.

Recent progress in ophiuroid morphology has greatly improved the understanding of various skeletal parts (e.g., lateral arm plates, oral elements). This has led to a revised phylogeny and classification with good congruence between molecular and morphological data. The morphological dataset is still rather small though and additional characters are...

A new species of brittle star was collected in 2021 by the manned submersible “Fendouzhe” from the central rift zone deep waters, Philippine Sea, at a depth of 7729 m. It is described as Ophiuroglypha fendouzhe sp. nov., and is distinguished from its congeners based on the following features: slender arms, separated dorsal and ventral arm plates, o...

Brittle stars, unlike most other echinoderms, do not use their small tube feet for locomotion but instead use their flexible arms to produce a rowing or reverse rowing movement. They are among the fastest-moving echinoderms with the ability of complex locomotory behaviors. Considering the high species diversity and variability in morphotypes, a pro...

Brittle stars are among the most active and fastest moving echinoderms. They have the ability to show complex locomotory behaviors and use their flexible arms to produce a coordinated movement. Despite the interest in their movement, little is known about the intra- and interspecies variation in arm flexibility and movement. We performed a two-dime...

The arms in brittle stars are supported by a series of articulated vertebrae, allowing a wide range of motion, important for feeding and locomotion. This study provides a 3D geometric morphometric investigation of vertebral shape variation in relation to different functional and ecological aspects of ophiuroid lifestyles. Six segments within one ar...

Ophiuroidea are one of the most diverse classes among extant echinoderms, characterized by their flexible arms composed of a series of ossicles called vertebrae, articulating with each other proximally and distally. Their arms show a wide range of motion, important for feeding and locomotion, associated with their epizoic and non-epizoic lifestyles...

The ophiuroid genus Ophioplinthaca is well characterized by the deep incisions in the disc. Prior to this study, it contained 32 accepted species, but species limits and geographic distributions were not well understood. The manned submersible vehicle ‘Shenhaiyongshi’ was used to collect ophiuroid specimens from the deep-sea seamounts and cold seep...

In this study we focus on the ophiuroid species associated with cold-water corals south of Iceland. The specimens were sampled with the ROV Phoca (GEOMAR) in three different areas, during the recent expedition MSM75 connected to the IceAGE_RR (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology_Reykjanes Ridge hydrothermal vent activity) project. In eac...

Deep-sea ophiuroids were collected by the manned submersible ‘Shenhaiyongshi’ from the South China Sea at depths of 500–3550 m, in 2017 to 2020. A total of 18 species were identifi ed, including three new species and eight new records, increasing the total number of species known from the South China Sea to 304. Most of the ophiuroids recorded from...

This paper presents the first records of the brittle star Ophiactis abyssicola in Canadian waters and range extensions of up to 1900 km in the Northwest Atlantic from previously known locations. Samples were collected off northern Labrador and the northern portion of insular Newfoundland (eastern Canada) at 433 and 1097 m depths, respectively. This...

Ophiuroids were collected by the manned submersible ‘Shenhaiyongshi’ from the deep-sea seamounts in the South China Sea and Northwest Pacific regions at 602–1920 m depth, during 2018 to 2020. A total of nine species was identified, including two new species and seven new records from the South China Sea and one new record from the Northwest Pacific...

Brittle stars are one of the most diverse classes of echinoderms distributed worldwide in marine habitats. In this study, brittle stars were sampled by hand from the intertidal zone of the Persian Gulf's western part to the Oman Sea, from locations accessible without the need of a boat or diving equipment. Sampling time was set in the first days of...

Background The growing interest in mineral resources of the deep sea, such as seafloor massive sulphide deposits, has led to an increasing number of exploration licences issued by the International Seabed Authority. In the Indian Ocean, four licence areas exist, resulting in an increasing number of new hydrothermal vent fields and the discovery of...

The file contains comparison of Xper2 and Xper3 with DELTA (CSIRO and ALA) platforms in providing conventional and interactive keys in taxonomy. The direct links to work with both platforms are also included.

Ophiuroidea is the largest class among extant echinoderms, with over 2000 described species assigned to 33 families. Here, the first identification key to the recently revised classification was developed, and revised morphological descriptions were derived from it, expanding the previous short diagnoses. The key was built by analyzing internal and...

The brittle star samples collected by the Danish cruise ‘Galathea II’ (1950–52) had not been studied completely. We examined the remaining deep-sea samples (>400 m) and present the species inventory, discussing taxonomic issues in relation to recent phylogenetic data. About 235 samples were examined, over 9,300 individuals, from 67 species and 74 s...

Ophiuroidea is one of the most diverse classes among extant echinoderms. They occupy marine habitats, ranging from the poles to the equator, from intertidal reefs to hadal depths of at least 6,500 m. The brittle star’s arm includes a series of vertebral ossicles, each articulating with other proximally and distally. This articulated internal skele...

The conspicuous Mediterranean brittle star Ophioderma longicauda (Bruzelius, 1805) has been discovered to represent a cryptic species complex, consisting of six nuclear clusters with contrasting reproductive modes (broadcast spawners and brooders). Here, O. longicauda is re-described. It is distinguished by a dark reddish-brown colouration both dor...

Published records on the Ophiuroidea fauna of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are scattered in difficult to access journals and books. This study presents a compilation of all published records, complemented with data from new samples. Distribution, habitat and depth in the study area, as well as known Indian Ocean distributions, are included. Th...

Recent efforts to reconstruct the phylogeny of brittle stars (ophiuroids) have shown the need for more objective and reproducible data collection methods than the traditional visual examination and verbal description of morphological characters. Complex skeletal structures may be better understood in three dimensions than in two dimensions obtained...

The class Ophiuroidea is the largest taxon among extant echinoderms, with over 2000 described species. In this study, the first interactive identification key for type species of 33 families of Ophiuroidea was developed and revised taxonomic diagnoses are provided. The key was built by internal and external characters including at least two mutuall...

br/>Motivation Traits are increasingly being used to quantify global biodiversity patterns, with trait databases growing in size and number, across diverse taxa. Despite growing interest in a trait‐based approach to the biodiversity of the deep sea, where the impacts of human activities (including seabed mining) accelerate, there is no single repo...

A new species of Ophiuroidea, Ophiacantha scissionis sp. nov., is described. It was collected from Munseom Island, Jeju-do, South Korea at a depth of 28-36 m, by SCUBA diving. Ophiacantha scissionis has unique and distinct morphological characteristics: small disk, densely covered by small trifid spines, radial shields completely concealed by disk...

The first articulated remains of ophiuroids for the Mesozoic of South America are described from the Lower Cretaceous of Neuquén Basin, Argentina. The taxonomic analysis allows the assignment of the material described herein to the extinct genus Ophiopetra. The specimens belong to a new species, but considering the poor preservation, a new name is...

Accurate species delimitation is essential to properly assess biodiversity, but also for management and conservation purposes. Yet, it is not always trivial to accurately define species boundaries in closely related species due to incomplete lineage sorting. Additional difficulties may be caused by hybridization, now evidenced as a frequent phenome...

During a faunistic survey on two shipwrecks in the northern Persian Gulf, several species of ophiuroid were collected in 2015 and 2016. Ophiactis modesta is reported for the first time in the Persian Gulf and Ophiothela venusta is re-described, because it has likely been misidentified in the past, possibly confused with Ophiopsammium semperi. Both...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Taxonomic analysis of the first ophiuroid remains for the Mesozoic of South America: the youngest record of the extinct genus Ophiopetra Hess

Euryalids, which include the spectacular basket stars, form a morphologically aberrant group of brittle stars. Surprisingly, the most recent molecular work found them to be sister to ophiurid brittle stars, thus challenging the traditional dichotomy between euryalids and non-euryalids, and leaving an enormous ghost lineage of more than 100 million...

Exploring the possibilities of 3D imaging and morphometrics for ophiuroid systematics

Recent advances in the morphological study of the brittle star skeleton have resulted in a new phylogeny, including both fossil and recent species. The character analysis relies on observation of specimens and SEM images, requiring lengthy and complicated verbal descriptions of structures. The drawbacks of this method are that words fail to accurat...

Accurate species delimitation is essential to properly assess biodiversity, but also for management and conservation purposes. Yet, it is not always trivial to accurately define species boundaries in closely related species due to incomplete lineage sorting. Additional difficulties may be caused by hybridization, now evidenced as a frequent phenome...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

A new classification of Ophiuroidea, considering family rank and above, is presented. The new family and superfamily taxa in O’Hara et al. (2017) were proposed to ensure a better readability of the new phylogeny but are unavailable under the provisions of the ICZN. Here, the morphological diagnoses to all 33 families and five superfamilies are prov...

The World Register of Marine species (WoRMS) has been established for a decade. The early history of the database involved compilation of existing global and regional species registers. This aggregation, combined with changes to data types and the changing needs of WoRMS users, has resulted in an evolution of data-entry consistency over time. With...

Abstract of talk given at BIOSYST 2017, Gothenburg, Sweden

This is the slideshow associated with the abstract.

The power and throughput of next-generation sequencing is instigating a major transformation in our understanding of evolution and classification of life on our planet. The new trees of life are robust and comprehensive. Here we provide a landmark phylogeny of the living ophiuroids and use it as the basis for a major revision of the higher classifi...

The phylogeny of the brittle stars has been problematic for centuries. Both morphological and molecular attempts failed to convincingly reconstruct the evolution of the class. We present a novel approach to reconstruct the ophiuroid phylogeny using new morphological characters found by direct observation on recent and fossil taxa. The resulting tre...

Heterochronic development has been proposed to have played an important role in the evolution of echinoderms. In the class Ophiuroidea, paedomorphosis (retention of juvenile characters into adulthood) has been documented in the families Ophiuridae and Ophiolepididae but not been investigated on a broader taxonomic scale. Historical errors, confusin...

Paedomorphosis scores as verbatim. Same as Table 4 but in words instead of numbers. (XLSX)

Morphometrics. Raw data, measurements of skeletal elements. (XLSX)

Talk

Ophiuroid systematics is currently in a state of upheaval, with recent molecular estimates fundamentally clashing with traditional, morphology-based classifications. Here, we attempt a long overdue recast of a morphological phylogeny estimate of the Ophiuroidea taking into account latest insights on microstructural features of the arm skeleton. Our...

List of characters. (DOCX)

Parsimony execution file for TNT. This is a modified version of the aquickie file included with the TNT package. (RUN)

Output of parsimony analysis. (TXT)

Score matrix. (HTML)

Nexus file for MrBayes, 13 recent species reduced to LAP data. (NEX)

Output of bootstrap analysis, majority rule. (TXT)

Output of bootstrap analysis, strict consensus. (TXT)

Nexus file for TNT. (TNT)

Nexus file for MrBayes, complete matrix. (NEX)

Execution file for bootstrap analysis in TNT. (TXT)