Phrynophiurida

Taxobox
name = Phrynophiurida

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Gorgonocephalidae sp."
(a basket star)
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Echinodermata
classis = Ophiuroidea
ordo = Phrynophiurida
subdivision_ranks = Suborders
subdivision =
Euryalina
Ophiomyxina

Phrynophiurida (formerly called Euryalae) is an order of brittle stars containing Basket stars.

Characteristics

Phrynophiurida have bursae for as exchange and excretion. Their ventral arm shields are rudimentary, dorsal shields usually absent. Arms sometimes branched, can coil vertically. The vertebrae are joined by hourglass-shaped surfaces. Madreporite is on oral surface. Digestive glands are confined to central disc [R.C.Brusca, G.J.Brusca. Invertebrates. Sinauer Associates, 2 ed.(2003)] . The integument is leathery, bearing calcereous granules or platelets. They generally live in deep-sea waters, coiling its arms on branched black coral, its principal food source.

ystematics

The Asteronychidae have a large disk and slender arms, and the Asteroschematidae have a small disk and stout arms.

One remaining family, the Ophiomyxidae, differs in having a soft, unprotected integument, like that of Ophiocanops, but lacks the peculiar features of the gut and gonads in oegophiurids.

Phrynophiurida are divided into the following suborders and families [ITIS|ID=157329|taxon=Phrynophiurida] :
*Euryalina
**Asteronychidae
**Asteroschematidae
**Gorgonocephalidae
**Euryalidae
*Ophiomyxina
**Ophiomyxidae
**?OphiocanopidaeThe inclusion of Ophiocanopidae is supported by some modern studies [Pearse,V.B. et al,(1998) An accessible population of Ophiocanops off NE Sulawesi,Indonesia. In: Mooi, R. & Telford, M. (Eds.) Echinoderms: San Francisco. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 413–418] , but not yet generally accepted [ITIS|ID=157328|taxon=Ophiocanopidae] .

References