Ophiohamus

Ophiohamus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Ophiuroidea
Order:	Ophiurida
Family:	Ophiacanthidae
Genus:	Ophiohamus O'Hara & Stöhr, 2006[1]
Type species
O'Hara & Stöhr, 2006

Ophiohamus is a genus of brittle stars in the family Ophiacanthidae from New Caledonia.^[2] Timothy D. O'Hara and Sabine Stöhr circumscribed and named the genus in 2006; they described the type species in the same work.^[1] A second species, , was described by O'Hara and Caroline Harding in 2015.^[3] As of 2018, those are the only two species recognized in this genus.^[2]

The genus is distinguished from other closely related genera such as such as and by a combination of the following characteristics:^[3]

• discs with coarse, overlapping disc plates integrated with large, contiguous radial shields, sometimes with spines;
• interradial incision shallow, the distal two with widened outer papillae;
• small oral and adoral shields, the former distal to the latter and contiguous with the lateral arm plate;
• arms curving but not coiling;
• 3–4 short arm spines, restricted laterally to the arm;
• arm spines up to or just exceeding a segment in length;
• lowest arm spine semi-hooked;
• jaw slit enclosing oral tentacles; and
• simple tentacle scale covering small tentacle pore.

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