PBDB Taxon

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Chinianasteridae

Somasteroidea - Chinianasteridae

Taxonomy

Chinianasteridae was named by Spencer (1951). It is not extant. It was considered monophyletic by Dean Shackleton (2005).

It was assigned to Goniactinida by Spencer (1951), Owen (1965), Spencer and Wright (1966) and Blake and Guensburg (1993); to Somasteroida by Dean Shackleton (2005); and to Somasteroidea by Blake and Guensburg (2015).

Subtaxa

Chinianaster, Ophioxenikos, Thoralaster, Villebrunaster (syn. Ampullaster, Cantabrigiaster)

Synonyms

Villebrunasteridae was named by Fell (1963). It is not extant. Its type is Villebrunaster.

It was synonymized subjectively with Chinianasteridae by Dean Shackleton (2005).

It was assigned to Somasteroidea by Fell (1963); and to Goniactinida by Spencer and Wright (1966) and Blake (1989).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1951	Chinianasteridae Spencer p. 93
1963	Villebrunasteridae Fell
1965	Chinianasteridae Owen p. 543
1966	Chinianasteridae Spencer and Wright p. U39
1966	Villebrunasteridae Spencer and Wright pp. U39-U40
1989	Villebrunasteridae Blake p. 212
1993	Chinianasteridae Blake and Guensburg p. 106
2005	Chinianasteridae Dean Shackleton p. 64
2015	Chinianasteridae Blake and Guensburg p. 467

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
—	Ambulacraria
phylum	Echinodermata

Rank	Name	Author
subphylum	Eleutherozoa
—	Asterozoa	()
class	Somasteroidea	()
family	Chinianasteridae
family	Chinianasteridae

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Fm. †Chinianasteridae Spencer 1951

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G. †Chinianaster Thoral 1935

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†Chinianaster levyi Thoral 1935

G. †Ophioxenikos Blake and Guensburg 1993

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†Ophioxenikos langenheimi Blake and Guensburg 1993

G. †Thoralaster Dean Shackleton 2005

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†Thoralaster spiculiformis Dean Shackleton 2005

G. †Villebrunaster Spencer 1951

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†Villebrunaster fezouataensis Hunter and Ortega-Hernández 2021

†Villebrunaster thorali Spencer 1951

Invalid names: Ampullaster ubaghsi Fell 1963 [synonym]

Invalid names: Ampullaster Fell 1963 [synonym], Cantabrigiaster Hunter and Ortega-Hernández 2021 [synonym]

Invalid names: Villebrunasteridae Fell 1963 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
J. Dean Shackleton 2005	Ambulacral perradial region forms tall roof sheating radial water vessel; adambulacral spines lost; inferomarginal length less than half length of ambulacrals; inferomarginals with prominent spikes; madreporite in contact with adambulacral plating; rod-like rectangular plates link main aboral plates.