Heliaster

Heliaster Temporal range: 3–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Pliocene to present
Heliaster microbrachius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Asteroidea
Order:	Forcipulatida
Family:	Heliasteridae
Genus:	Heliaster Gray, 1840

Heliaster is a genus of Asteroidea (sea stars) in the family Heliasteridae.^[1]

Species[]

• Perrier, 1875
• (Gray, 1840)
• Heliaster helianthus (Lamarck, 1816)
• Heliaster kubiniji Xantus, 1860
• Heliaster microbrachius Xantus, 1860
• H.L. Clark, 1907
• Heliaster solaris A.H. Clark, 1920

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).

References[]

• 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

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