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In spite of considerable progress during the last few years, the fossil record of the ophiuroids, or brittle stars, is still poorly known, especially with respect to taxa restricted to specific environments. Here, we describe new ophiuroid fossils collected from an Upper Cretaceous rocky shore in Ivö Klack, southern Sweden, consisting of fully disarticulated skeletal remains retrieved from the sediments deposited between boulders and hummocks. The fossils are identified as a new species of the extant ophiocomid genus Ophiocoma. In a critical revision of the ophiocomid fossil record, we show that all fossils previously assigned to the Ophiocomidae belong to other families. Thus, the fossil record of the Ophiocomidae is currently restricted to the new species described herein, and Amphiura? gigantiformis from the Miocene of Austria which, in fact, is a species of Ophiocoma. Since recent species of Ophiocoma exclusively occur in tropical to subtropical shallow subtidal environments, our discovery of a fossil Ophiocoma species in the rocky shore sediments of Ivö therefore conforms with the previously assumed subtropical palaeotemperatures prevailing in southern Sweden during the Late Cretaceous. Most notably, it represents the northernmost occurrence of an ophiocomid recorded to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastropods of the genus Mucronalia (Eulimidae) are known ectoparasites of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea). However, the identities of host species are only known for three of some ten described species in the genus. Here, we report associations of Mucronalia snails, including one new species, with ophiuroid hosts from Japan and New Caledonia: M. spp. aff. alba with Ophiomastix annulosa, Ophiomastix mixta, and Ophiocoma cynthiae; M. sp. cf. exquisita with Amphioplus (Amphioplus) sp.; Mucronalia ryukyuensis n. sp. with Ophionereis porrecta; and Mucronalia sp. with Amphiura velox. Mucronalia ryukyuensis n. sp. is described from Okinawa, southwestern Japan. The new species is characterized by its slender shell with a large body whorl and aperture compared with other species of the genus. Among Japanese congeners, the shell of the new species is most similar to that of M. exilis, but differs in having a teleoconch with less-convex whorls, regularly increasing in diameter. The present study corroborates Warén's (1983) general rule that eulimids in a single genus parasitize hosts of the same echinoderm class, and our records suggest that closely related species of Mucronalia tend to exploit hosts of a more restricted lineage. We also briefly discuss the divergence processes of Mucronalia snails, which likely involve host shifts and geographic isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fossil record of the Ophiuroidea is still patchy, especially in the Cenozoic. Only four species have been described from the entire Oligocene, which is in stark contrast to the present-day diversity counting more than 2000 species. Here, we describe two new species of ophiuroid, Ophiura tankardi sp. nov. and Ophiodoris niersteinensis sp. nov., from the Lower Oligocene of the Mainz Basin. The species are based on microfossils extracted from the sieving residues of bulk sediment samples from a flush drill in Nierstein, Rhineland-Palatinate. The new species belong to extant genera and add to the poor Oligocene fossil record of the class. Based on present-day distributions, the occurrence of Ophiodoris suggests deep sublittoral to shallow bathyal palaeodepths for the Nierstein area of the Mainz Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ophioderma peruana sp. n. is a new species of Ophiodermatidae, extending the distribution of the genus Ophioderma to Lobos de Afuera Island, Peru, easily distinguishable from its congeners by its peculiarly fragmented dorsal arm plates. Dense granules, rounded or polygonal cover the disc, the radial shields may be naked or completely covered by granules. A good character for recognizing this species in the field is the dorsal side of the disc which is brown with disc granules lighter cream and brown, the arms are mottled with whitish spots and the ventral part of the disc on the interradial part is brown and the radial part bright yellow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squamophis, a new genus of brittle star is described. Two species are included in the genus: Squamophis amamiensis (Okanishi & Fujita, 2009) from south-western Japan and Squamophis albozosteres sp. n. from north-western Australia. Squamophis gen. n. is distinguished from the other genera of the family Asteroschematidae by the following characters: each radial shield is single-layered and is completely covered by plate-shaped epidermal ossicles, and the relative length of the longest arm spine throughout the arms is as long as the length of the corresponding arm segment. Squamophis albozosteres sp. n. is distinguished from Squamophis amamiensis in having white, slightly domed, plate-shaped epidermal ossicles on the aboral side of the body, the ossicles on aboral and lateral portion of the arms form transverse rows, and the other part of aboral side of disc and basal to middle portion of arms are brown but tip of the arms are light purple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]