Sistemática e Evolução - Comunicações orais

In Brazil, there has been limited research on the Ophiuroidea fauna of oceanic islands, as scientific efforts have primarily focused on species from the continental shelf, especially in the southwestern region. Among the Brazilian oceanic islands known and studied, there is the Trindade and Martin Vaz Archipelago (TMV), located about 1.200 km off the Brazilian coast, east of Vitória – ES. Among the echinoderms, ophiuroids are the most studied group in the TMV. However, the available literature on this group from islands is extremely reduced, with only a few studies and significant informational gaps, including the absence of descriptions and/or images of registered species. Therefore, the main objective of the project is to describe, from in-depth morphological studies, the taxonomic biodiversity of the Ophiuroidea fauna of the TMV. The study is being conducted using specimens collected by the PROTRINDADE/CNPq project, during the years 2012-2019. Morphological analyses of external (arm plates, disc cover, etc) and internal (dental and oral plate, vertebrae, etc) diagnostic structures have been performed, with the aid of morphometry, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and X-ray Microtomography µCT). So far, approximately 1.500 specimens have been studied, revealing the presence of 10 species and eight families Amphiuridae Ljungman, 1867, Ophiactidae Matsumoto, 1915, Ophiocomidae Ljungman, 1867, Ophiodermatidae Ljungman, 1867, Ophiolepididae Ljungman, 1867, Ophiomyxidae Ljungman, 1867, Ophionereididae Ljungman, 1867 e Ophiothrichidae Ljungman, 1867. The species are being delimited, described, and illustrated in detail. The obtained results are expected to contribute to the knowledge of the biodiversity of the Ophiuroidea class in the archipelago. We are grateful to CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil) and FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) – BIOTA-Collections Project (Process nº 2018/10313-0), the ProTrindade Project (Process nº 2016/50373-6) and Postdoctoral grant of LM (Process nº 2021/06442-1).