''Amphipholis'' is a large genus of

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s (Ophiuroidea) found in oceans worldwide from tropics to Arctic and Antarctic regions. Some species have been used to study echinoderm development (''

Amphipholis kochii ''Amphipholis'' is a large genus of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) found in oceans worldwide from tropics to Arctic and Antarctic regions. Some species have been used to study echinoderm development ('' Amphipholis kochii'') and bioluminescence (the ...

'') and

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorgani ...

(the dwarf brittle star, ''

Amphipholis squamata ''Amphipholis squamata'', common names brooding snake star and dwarf brittle star, is a species complexLe Gac, M., Féral, J.P., Poulin, E., Veyret, M. & Chenuil, A. (2004) ''Identification of allopatric clades in the cosmopolitan ophiuroid speci ...

'').

Systematics

''Amphipholis'' is a large genus with potentially many

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The high variability may be due to common

parthenogenetic Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek + ) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which the embryo develops directly from an egg without need for fertilization. In animals, parthenogenesis means the development of an embryo from an unfertiliz ...

reproduction. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus is ''Amphipholis januarii '' Ljungman, 1866(=''Amphipholis gracillima'' (Stimpson, 1852)). Species include:MarineSpecies.org - Amphipholis Thomas, 1966
/ref> *'' Amphipholis abdita'' *'' Amphipholis andreae'' *'' Amphipholis bananensis'' *'' Amphipholis clypeata'' *''

Amphipholis elevata ''Amphipholis'' is a large genus of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) found in oceans worldwide from tropics to Arctic and Antarctic regions. Some species have been used to study echinoderm development (''Amphipholis kochii'') and bioluminescence (the ...

'' *'' Amphipholis erecta'' *'' Amphipholis geminata'' *'' Amphipholis goesi'' *''

Amphipholis gracillima ''Amphipholis'' is a large genus of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) found in oceans worldwide from tropics to Arctic and Antarctic regions. Some species have been used to study echinoderm development (''Amphipholis kochii'') and bioluminescence (the ...

'' *'' Amphipholis granulata'' *''

'' *'' Amphipholis laevidisca'' *'' Amphipholis limbata'' *'' Amphipholis linopneusti'' *'' Amphipholis litoralis'' *'' Amphipholis loripes'' *'' Amphipholis microdiscus'' *'' Amphipholis misera'' *'' Amphipholis murmanica'' *'' Amphipholis nudipora'' *'' Amphipholis pentacantha'' *'' Amphipholis platydisca'' *'' Amphipholis procidens'' *'' Amphipholis pugetana'' *'' Amphipholis puntarenae'' *'' Amphipholis sigillata'' *''

Amphipholis similis ''Amphipholis'' is a large genus of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) found in oceans worldwide from tropics to Arctic and Antarctic regions. Some species have been used to study echinoderm development (''Amphipholis kochii'') and bioluminescence (the ...

'' *'' Amphipholis sobrina'' *''

'' *'' Amphipholis strata'' *'' Amphipholis tetracantha'' *'' Amphipholis torelli'' *'' Amphipholis vitax''

References

Amphiuridae Ophiuroidea genera {{ophiuroidea-stub