The phyllophorid sea cucumbers of southern Australia (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida: Phyllophoridae)
Author
O’Loughlin, P. Mark
Author
Barmos, Shari
Author
VandenSpiegel, Didier
text
Memoirs of Museum Victoria
2012
2012-12-31
69
269
308
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-69-2012/pages-269-308/
journal article
10.24199/j.mmv.2012.69.05
1447-2554
12212378
Thyonidiella kungi
O’Loughlin
sp. nov.
Figures 1d
,
8
Material examined
.
Holotype
.
Australia
,
Bass Strait
,
VIMS 81
–T–1,
NZOI
RV
Tangaroa
stn 176,
38°54.3'S
,
147°13.4'E
,
58 m
, coarse shell,
18 Nov 1981
,
NMV
F76637
.
Paratypes
. Type locality and date,
NMV
F174910
(1)
;
VIMS 81
–
T–1 stn 171,
38°53.7'S
,
147°55.2'E
,
71 m
, shelly sand,
17 Nov 1981
,
NMV
F76635
(3)
;
VIMS 81
–
T–1 stn 177,
38°53.7'S
,
147°06.5'E
,
58 m
, coarse shell,
18 Nov 1981
,
NMV
F76638
(5).
Other material
.
VIMS 81
–T–1 stn 161,
39°47.3'S
,
147°19.3'E
,
60 m
, muddy shell,
14 Nov 1981
,
NMV
F76636
(1)
;
VIMS 81
–T–1 stn 174,
39°14.8'S
,
147°31.5'E
,
57 m
, muddy shell,
18 Nov 1981
,
NMV
F76639
(5, very small)
.
Diagnosis
. Up to
16 mm
long, up to
5 mm
diameter (preserved, tentacles withdrawn), cylindrical body, rounded end orally, tapered to rounded end anally, thick soft body wall; external anal scales not detected; 15 tentacles in 2 series, 5 outer pairs large, 5 single inner small; complete spaced cover of tube feet, diameter up to about
0.2 mm
; calcareous ring with 10 posterior composite tapering projections arising in pairs from radial plates only, posterior projections free thin tails each comprising about 5 elongate plates, ring not tubular, anterior radial plate narrowing slightly with deep central split, lacking lateral small notches, interradial plates not composite; single polian vesicle; longitudinal muscles flat, not divided.
Mid-body dorsal wall lacking ossicles; tube foot ossicles endplates and support ossicles only, endplates with denticulate margin, irregular sub-equal perforations, diameters up to 184
µ
m, endplate support ossicles dumbbell-shaped, distally perforate with denticulate margin, up to 120
µ
m long; tentacles with rods and rosettes, larger rods dumbbell-shaped, widened and perforate distally with denticulate margin, up to 304
µ
m long, rosettes up to 88
µ
m long; anal ossicles tube foot endplates and support rods, tentacle-like rods, rosettes, 5 scales comprising base up to 320
µ
m wide with digitiform column up to 240
µ
m long, base and column comprising massed short branched rods.
Specimen
3 mm
long with radial tube feet; cucumariid ring lacking posterior prolongations; mid-body ossicles solid 4-pillared tables, irregular multi-perforate discs up to 184
µ
m long, high spires with 4 cross connections, up to 136
µ
m high; mid-body tube feet with endplates up to 152
µ
m diameter, perforations small centrally, large peripherally, margin denticulate, endplate support rods dumbbell-shaped, up to184
µ
m long.
Colour (preserved)
. Body pale brown.
Etymology
. Named for the Taiwanese FRV
Hai Kung
that conducted part of the survey of the benthic marine fauna of eastern Bass Strait for the former Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences.
Distribution
. Eastern Bass Strait, 38–
40°S
, 147–
148°E
,
58–71 m
, coarse shell, mud and sand.
Remarks.
Thyonidiella kungi
O’Loughlin
sp. nov.
is distinguished from other southern
Australia
Phyllophoridae
species in the key (above).