Table 7.

Comparison of the key morphological characters that differentiate the 24 species of Caulophacus (Caulophacus) from each other and from New Zealand specimens of Caulophacus (Caulophacus) discohexaster Tabachnick & Lévi, 2004) (NIWA 126342 and NIWA 126343).

taxa	location	body shape differs radically	dermal pinule differs visually in shape	atrial pinule differs visually in shape	stalk pinule differs visually in shape	dermal pinule, 2 or more forms	dermal, atrial or stalk pinules mostly pentactins	dermal, atrial or stalk pinules exclusively pentactins	dermal pinule ray is much shorter	atrial pinule ray is much shorter	dermal and atrial pinules, basal rays of nearly smooth	choanosomal hexactins, some or all are centrally spined	hypodermal pentactins, some or all are centrally spined	hypodermal pentactins are very small	hypodermal pentactins of stalk, atrial pinules are mostly pentactins	hypodermal pentactins of stalk, some or all are centrally spined	hypoatrial pentactins tangential rays, some or all centrally spined	hypoatrial pentactins very small	microsclere hemidiscohexasters absent	microsclere discohexasters absent	microsclere discohexactins absent	microsclere discohexasters include thin-rayed forms	microsclere discohexasters in two or more forms	microsclere oxy-tipped forms present
abyssalis	Argentine Basin		x			x						x	x						x
adakensis	Aleutian Islands											x	x				x
agassizi	Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy		x	x			x					x	x				x		x
antarcticus	East Antarctic Wilkes Land		x	x			x							x				x		x
arcticus	Greenland and Arctic Ocean		x	x					x				x		x		x					x
basispinosus	Indian Ocean						x					x	x				x		x	x				x
chilense	Central Chile	x										x	x				x					x		x
cyanae	Mexican Tropical Pacific		x	x			x						x						x				x	x
discohexactinus	Antarctica						x						x						x			x	x
discohexaster	New Caledonia		x
elegans	North Pacific		x	x							x		x
galatheae	Indian Ocean								x				x						x	x				x
hadalis	Southern Kermadec Ridge		x				x									x			x
instabilis	South Orkney Islands				x								x						x
latus	Crozet Islands		x	x					x				x									x		x
oviformis	East Antarctica	x	x	x							x	x							x		x
palmeri	Drake Passage									x									x		x
pipetta	East Antarctica	x	x	x							x		x									x	x
ramosus	Kermadec Trench							x							x
schulzei	Panama Bight, Pacific Ocean				x						x		x				x					x	x
serpens	Kermadec Trench						x
scotiae	Weddell Sea, Antarctica		x	x									x									x	x
variens	Western Pacific Ocean		x	x								x							x			x	x
wilsoni	Eastern Pacific Ocean	x	x	x									x						x			x

*Taxonomic authorities have been excluded from this column but are available from van Soest et al. (2021)