Asteroidea - Forcipulatida - Asteriidae
Full reference: J. E. Gray. 1840. A synopsis of the genera and species of the class Hypostoma Asterias (Linn.). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6:275-290
Parent taxon: Forcipulatida according to D. B. Blake 1989
See also Clark and Twitchell 1915, Gale 1987, Gale 2011, Gale 2011, Hess 1972, Mah and Blake 2012, Perrier 1894 and Spencer and Wright 1966
Sister taxa: Asteriadina, Brisingida, Heliasteridae, Labidiasteridae, Neomorphasteridae, Pedicellasteridae, Psammaster, Stichasteridae, Zoroasteridae
Subtaxa: Asteriinae Cretasterias Dermasterinae Germanasterias Hystrixasterias Pegaster Polarasterias Savignasterias Sclerasterias
Ecology: slow-moving low-level epifaunal carnivore
Distribution:
• Quaternary of United States (3: Maryland, Massachusetts collections)
• Miocene of Argentina (1), United States (1: California)
• Eocene of Antarctica (3)
• Cretaceous of Belgium (1), France (7), Germany (1), Morocco (1), United States (1: California)
• Jurassic of Belgium (1), France (2), Germany (1), Switzerland (3)
Total: 26 collections including 28 occurrences