Actinometra blakei, originally described from a single specimen, was subsequently placed in synonymy, and has not been mentioned in print since 1931. This re-description was prompted by the collection of three new specimens that fit the original description. The species is assigned to Hanshessaster new genus, after eminent crinoid researcher Hans Hess, because Actinometra is a junior synonym of Comatula de Lamarck, 1816, to which A. blakei does not conform. The species cannot be assigned to any other accepted genus. The pinnule combs are similar to those of several Indo-western Pacific taxa but were previously unknown in any western Atlantic crinoid.