Oh snap! They're not called Asterinas anymore!

[Lionfish Lair]

So, I'm adding content to my guide and doing some reading when I come across an interesting fact... the tiny starfish in our tanks... the one we call Asterinas are no longer Asterinas and haven't been since about 2004. The Asterina genus branched off and the tiny starfish went to their own genus labeled Aquilonastra. We've been calling them the wrong thing!! Just saying....

 

[stevo01]

Wow, think im going to start calling them Astra.

 

[ritter6788]

That's gonna be harder to overcome than calling Acan lords Micro lords.

 

[AcroNem]

That's going to be a hard one, and Homophyllia instead of Scolymia, Dipsastraea instead of Favia, recognizing that Blastomussa is insertae sedis, and that Wellsophyllia radiata is now a species again. These changes suck to keep straight.

 

[AcroNem]

Ah. I'd like to add they're still in the family Asterinidae, so not quite wrong to call them that.

 

[pugcrush]

Cmon this is FakeReefNews right? All this renaming is tough.

 

[MicroPico]

Can we object? Asterina rolls off the tongue better.

 

[tyler1503]

That's going to be a hard one, and Homophyllia instead of Scolymia, Dipsastraea instead of Favia, recognizing that Blastomussa is insertae sedis, and that Wellsophyllia radiata is now a species again. These changes suck to keep straight.

Don't forget acans! Oops, I mean micromussa.

 

[stevo01]

Or Lobophyllia, er I mean Trachyphyllia.

 

[AcroNem]

Lobophyllia is still a recognized genus. It's Trachyphyllia geoffroyi and Wellsophyllia radiata that have been separated again.

 

[mkwarner77]

I didn't knowi was getting into this hobby to be a marine biologist. Lol

 

[redfishbluefish]

Lobophyllia is still a recognized genus. It's Trachyphyllia geoffroyi and Wellsophyllia radiata that have been separated again.

Shut the door!!!!

So my once wellsphyllia, that became a trachyphyllia is now back to being a wellso again?

And as far as the OP......I have an old tank and haven't introduced anything new, so mine are all still Asterinas!

 

[AcroNem]

Shut the door!!!!

So my once wellsphyllia, that became a trachyphyllia is now back to being a wellso again?

Yup. Those two genera have been so annoying to keep straight. But yes, after soft tissue analysis they are separate again.

 

[Dancingmad]

Shoot, with my Texas accent I can't even say these right to begin with. Having received most of my information from reading, plus a complete lack of experience with Latin, I'll just continue to make up my own pronunciation . Thank goodness for context clues and polite people. Otherwise no one would know what I was talking about.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

And as far as the OP......I have an old tank and haven't introduced anything new, so mine are all still Asterinas!

Bahahahahaha!

I just don't know what to do for the guide. I'm going to have to change it, I suppose. That's why I'm doing the extra research, to make sure it's accurate.

Here are some pictures from a PDF of the handful of species that fall under Aquilonastra for reference.

https://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/3713/63_2_oloughlin_rowe.pdf

 

[redfishbluefish]

If I not mistaken, Asterina is the family name, of which the genus, Aquilonastra is part of. So technically you're still right.

Not only that, Aquilonastra sounds like it should be the Water Mafia, with la coast-a-nastra found on land!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Asterinidae is the family. That's not the same in my book. It would hinder research if you were trying to figure out what those little guys eat, for example. If you look up asterina in research studies, you'd be looking up the wrong guy, you know what I mean?

 

[AcroNem]

Yup^ ending in -idae is a family name

 

[redfishbluefish]

I realize this is an older thread, but does anyone have reference to Wellsophyllia being accepted as a separate species again. The only thing I could find was a Reefbuilders reference briefly mentioned HERE, but the video directly below the wellso info simply states that wellso is a trach??? Here's the actual verbiage:

After much back and forth, it seems that Wellsophyllia radiata is now formally recognized as a distinct genus and species again. The tissues of both Trachyphyllia and Wellsophylliai are very similar, but they can be distingushed based on their shape and skeletal features.

Also looking at WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), Wellsophyllia is still not accepted.

 

[AcroNem]

In the reefbuilders article there's a link to the formal paper that lists the changes. Wellsophyllia radiata is a recognized species again, and is separate from Trachyphyllia. I've noticed that WoRMS and AIMS don't have any of the new changes in taxonomy listed yet, which is annoying, there's plenty of changes that people need to be aware of.