Checklist of echinoderms (Echinodermata) from the Southern Mexican Pacific: a historical review Rebeca Granja-Fernández1, Francisco Alonso Solís-Marín2, Francisco Benítez-Villalobos3, María Dinorah Herrero-Pérezrul4 & Andrés López-Pérez5 1. Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. San Rafael Atlixco 186, Col. Vicentina. CP 09340. D.F., México; [email protected] 2. Colección Nacional de Equinodermos “Ma. E. Caso Muñoz”, Laboratorio de Sistemática y Ecología de Equinodermos, ICMyL, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 México, D.F.; [email protected] 3. Instituto de Recursos, Universidad del Mar, Campus Puerto Ángel, 70902, San Pedro Pochutla, Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca, México; [email protected] 4. Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas. Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional s/n, col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, 23096, La Paz, B.C.S., México; [email protected] 5. Departamento de Hidrobiología, División CBS, UAM-Iztapalapa. Av. San Rafael Atlixco 186, Col. Vicentina, 09340, AP 55-535, México, D.F.; [email protected] Received 22-VII-2014. Corrected 04-XI-2014. Accepted 08-XII-2014. Abstract: The echinoderms of the Southern Mexican Pacific have been studied for three centuries, but dis- crepancies in the nomenclature of some species have pervaded through time. The objective of this work is to present the first updated checklist of all valid species and synonyms, and a historical review of the study of the echinoderms of the Southern Mexican Pacific is also presented. The checklist is based on an exhaustive pub- lished literature search and records of specimens deposited in museum and curated reference collections. There are 162 species of echinoderms in the Southern Mexican Pacific from 96 genera, 54 families and 20 orders. The State of Guerrero presented a total of 135 species, Oaxaca 94 and Chiapas 15. We updated the list and added five new records of the species (Microphiopholis platydisca, Ophiostigma tenue, Arbacia stellata, Thyone bidentata, Chiridota rigida) for the Southern Mexican Pacific and one for the Mexican Pacific (Encope laevis). This check- list expands the number of species known for the study area; nevertheless studies suggest that still more species are yet to be discovered. Rev. Biol. Trop. 63 (Suppl. 2): 87-114. Epub 2015 June 01. Key words: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea, Holothuroidea, México. The phylum Echinodermata is represented a large number of habitats (i.e. coral reefs, approximately by 7 000 living species, and mangroves, coastal lagoons) and represents 13 000 fossil species, and comprises five living the main dispersal route to Mexico for species classes (Pawson, 2007). In the Mexican Pacif- from Central America (Arriaga-Cabrera et al., ic, the taxonomy and ecology of the echino- 1998; Reyes-Bonilla & López-Pérez, 1998). derm species have been studied for more than A large amount of information has been pub- a hundred years, being the Gulf of California lished regarding the echinoderm fauna of the the most extensively studied area (Solís-Marín SMP, resulting in a research history that can be et al., 2013). divided into three periods. The Southern Mexican Pacific (SMP) The first expedition carried out at the coasts comprises the States of Guerrero, Oaxaca and of the SMP was Albatross in 1891. The lead- Chiapas. This is a region with a high marine ing scientist of the expedition was Alexander biodiversity and endemism, besides it has Agassiz, who collected marine specimens from Rev. Biol. Trop. (Int. J. Trop. Biol. ISSN-0034-7744) Vol. 63 (Suppl. 2): 87-114, June 2015 87 the Eastern Pacific. The expedition resulted in et al. 2008b), reproduction (Benítez-Villalobos the reports of Ludwig (1894) (Holothuroidea), & Martínez-García, 2012; Benítez-Villalobos Agassiz (1898, 1904) (Echinoidea), Lütken and et al., 2012, 2013), and symbiosis (Granja- Mortensen (1899) (Ophiuroidea) and Ludwig Fernández et al., 2013b). (1905) (Asteroidea). Although Albatross was Notwithstanding that the knowledge of the the only expedition into the SMP during the echinoderms in the SMP has increased since 19th century, numerous taxonomic contribu- the 19th century, the large amount of work in tions were produced for this area mostly for the area has generated a myriad of names that Asteroidea (Gray, 1871; Perrier, 1875, 1878; not only have often been misspelled, but have Sladen, 1899) and Echinoidea (Agassiz, 1863, also created longstanding taxonomic problems. 1872, 1873, 1881, 1898; Lockington, 1876; To overcome this trend, the main goal of this Rathbun, 1886). contribution is to present the first updated During the 20th century (in 1904 and checklist of all valid and synonymous names of 1905) the Albatross made a final expedition to echinoderms from the SMP based on published the SMP. This expedition resulted in the exten- literature and from specimens deposited in sive work of H.L. Clark (1920) about the East- collections, which will be useful as a baseline ern Tropical Pacific Asteroidea. Along with for future taxonomic, ecological and marine the Albatross, during 1931-1941, the Velero III resource management studies. surveyed the SMP. As a result of the Velero III expeditions, Deichmann (1941, 1958) (Holo- MATERIALS AND METHODS thuroidea), H.L. Clark (1948) (Echinoidea) and Ziesenhenne (1940) (Ophiuroidea) published We present a list of all known valid extensive works on the echinoderms of the names and synonyms of echinoderm species area. During 1937-1938, the New York Zoo- (classes Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea logical Society organized an expedition to the and Holothuroidea) from Guerrero (GRO), Eastern Pacific (Zaca) under the direction of Oaxaca (OAX), Chiapas (CHIS) and the Gulf William Beebe, which generated the works of of Tehuantepec (GT), México. The Gulf of Deichmann (1938) (Holothuroidea) and H.L. Tehuantepec comprises the States of Oaxaca Clark (1940) (Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echi- and Chiapas; some of the records in the area do noidea). In addition, during this century, there not mention a specific State, thus we refer to was an increase in systematic studies of echino- them as Gulf of Tehuantepec. derms from the SMP. In particular, researchers The checklist is based on an exhaustive such as H.L. Clark (1907a, 1907b, 1914, 1915, published literature search (131 references) 1917, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1940, 1948), Deich- and records of specimens deposited in muse- mann (1936, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1958) and ums or properly curated reference collections Caso (1944, 1945, 1946, 1948a, 1948b, 1949, (AMNH-American Museum of Natural His- 1951, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, tory, New York; AMS-Australian Museum, 1967a, 1967b, 1970, 1977, 1978a, 1978b, Sydney; CAS-California Academy of Sciences, 1979, 1980a, 1980b, 1983, 1986) produced a San Francisco; FMNH-The Field Museum, vast number of publications. Chicago; ICML-UNAM-Colección Nacional Recently, the study of echinoderms in de Equinodermos “Dra. Ma. Elena Caso”, Insti- the Southern Mexican Pacific has not only tuto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Univer- focused on systematics, but also on ecology sidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México (Benítez-Villalobos, 2001; Lirman et al., 2001; City; LACM-Los Angeles County Museum, Calderón-Aguilera & Reyes-Bonilla, 2006; Los Angeles; MACN-Museo Argentino de López-Pérez et al., 2008; Zamorano & Leyte- Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Morales, 2005a, 2005b, 2009), bioerosion (Her- Buenos Aires; MCZ-Museum of Comparative rera-Escalante et al., 2005; Benítez-Villalobos Zoology, Cambridge; UMAR-Colección de 88 Rev. Biol. Trop. (Int. J. Trop. Biol. ISSN-0034-7744) Vol. 63 (Suppl. 2): 87-114, June 2015 equinodermos de la Universidad del Mar, Puer- archaic group (Blake, 1972). Based on speci- to Ángel, México; USNM-National Museum of mens donated by the Museum of Comparative Natural History, Washington; YPM-Yale Pea- Zoology, Cambridge to the Museum of Natu- body Museum of Natural History, New Haven). ral History of Paris, Perrier (1875) recorded Systematic arrangements follow the cri- Nidorellia armata, Pharia pyramidatus, Heli- teria of A.M. Clark (1989, 1993, 1996), A.M. aster kubiniji and Heliaster microbrachius Clark and Mah (2001) and Mah (2014) for from Acapulco, Guerrero. the Asteroidea; Smith et al. (1995), Stöhr et The 20th century was the period with al. (2014) for the Ophiuroidea; Mortensen the highest addition of Asteroidea to the SMP (1928, 1935, 1943a, 1943b, 1948, 1950, 1951), fauna (20 species). Ludwig (1905) described Kroh and Smith (2010) and Kroh and Mooi Eremicaster pacificus, Pseudarchaster pulcher, (2014) for the Echinoidea; Pawson and Fell Mediaster transfuga, Hymenaster violaceus, (1965), Rowe (1969), Solís-Marín et al. (2009), Zoroaster hirsutus and Freyella insignis from Smirnov (2012) and WoRMS (2014) for the Acapulco and other areas of the Tropical Eastern Holothuroidea. The taxonomic status of all spe- Pacific. Ludwig (1905) also reported Porcel- cies (valid names and synonyms) was tracked lanaster waltharii from Acapulco, now con- in the literature back to the original description, sidered as a synonym of Eremicaster crassus and was constructed with the help of systemat- (A.M. Clark, 1989). It is important to note that ics experts. The current checklist includes only P. waltharii has been incorrectly spelled as P. those synonyms that have been used in the waltherii (A.M. Clark, 1989), in contrast with SMP, but some species can have a larger syn- the original spelling