Forcipulatida

The Forcipulatida are an order of sea stars, containing three families and 49 genera.

Forcipulatida
Asterias rubens
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Asteroidea
Superorder:	Forcipulatacea
Order:	Forcipulatida
Families
See Text

Description

Forcipulatids share with the brisingid sea stars distinctive pedicellariae, consisting of a short stalk with three skeletal ossicles. Unlike that group, however, the forcipulatids tend to have more robust bodies.^[1] The order includes some well-known species, such as the common starfish, Asterias rubens. This order can be commonly found from North Carolina in the United States all the way to Santos in Brazil.^[2]

Phylogeny

The order is divided into three families:^[3]

• Family Asteriidae — 39 genera
• Family Heliasteridae — two genera
• Family Zoroasteridae — eight genera

World Register of Marine Species gives another taxonomy, with 7 families and 64 genera:

• Family Asteriidae Gray, 1840
• Family Heliasteridae Viguier, 1878
• Family Pedicellasteridae Perrier, 1884
• Family Pycnopodiidae Fisher, 1928
• Family Stichasteridae Perrier, 1885
• Family Zoroasteridae Sladen, 1889

A 2020 study involving phylogenetic analysis and scanning electron microscopy of the skeleton and ossicles of taxa from the superorder Forcipulatacea recovered Asteriidae, Stichasteridae, Zoroasteridae, and Brisingida as monophyletic.^[4]

The extinct family Terminasteridae has also been placed in this order.^[5]

See also

• Paulasterias mcclaini
• Paulasterias tyleri