Rhabdastrella globostellata is often confused with its closely related species
Jaspis stellifera, with historical samples listed under
J. stellifera re-evaluated to discover misidentification within the species (van Soest & Braekman, 1999; Kennedy, 2000).
R. globostellata is synonymous with several historically prescribed species (transferred to
R. globostellata);
Aurora globostellata (Carter,1883),
Stelletta globostellata (Carter, 1883),
Stellettinopsis coriacea (Carter, 1886), and
Stellettinopsis purpurea (Carter, 1886) (van Soest, 2011a).
Amorphina stellifera (Carter, 1879) has been made synonymic with
Jaspis stellifera (Carter, 1879) through
World Register of Marine Species (van Soest, 2011a) but has yet to be updated through
Catalogue of Life.
Due to the advent of modern DNA barcoding techniques (discussed
here) many revisions are being considered for the
Rhabdastrella genus (Kennedy, 2000; Cardenas, 2010; Cardenas et al., 2011). Subject to these new techniques, relatedness between species may undergo a change. Current classification is listed
here.