Archasteridae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

starfish Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

found in shallow waters in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. The

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Astropus'', previously included in this family, is now included in the genus ''Archaster'' with the single

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, ''Astropus longipes'' (Gray, 1840), being accepted as ''Archaster lorioli'' Sukarno & Jangoux, 1977. The only genus in the family is now ''Archaster'' as three subfamilies have now been raised to family status: *Subfamily Benthopectininae accepted as

Benthopectinidae Benthopectinidae is a family of sea stars containing at least 75 species in eight genera. It is the only family in the monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. ...

*Subfamily Pararchasterinae accepted as

*Subfamily Plutonasterinae accepted as

Astropectinidae The Astropectinidae are a family of sea stars in the order Paxillosida. Usually, these starfish live on the seabed and immerse themselves in soft sediment such as sand and mud. They are not to be confused with species in the genus '' Archaster' ...

Species

The following species are listed by the World Register of Marine Species:

References

Asteroidea genera {{asteroidea-stub