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
Thyone spenceri
O’Loughlin
sp. nov.
Figures 17e
,
23
Material examined
.
Holotype
.
South Australia
,
Upper Spencer Gulf
,
Backy Point
– West,
32º50'S
137º50.52'E
,
18 m
,
SA Fisheries Department
,
Sep 1987
,
SAM
K2562
(ring, tentacle crown, anterior part of body wall).
Paratype
.
Upper Spencer Gulf
,
Port Bonython
,
33º01'S
137º45'E
,
15 m
,
SA Fisheries Department
,
Sep 1987
,
SAM
K2565
(1, ring, tentacle crown, anterior part of body wall)
.
Diagnosis.
Anterior body and calcareous ring
13 mm
long (preserved), body wall soft; 10 tentacles, 8 large 2 ventral small; complete close cover of small tube feet; calcareous ring composite, tubular, posterior ends of composite plates not joined; radial plates tapered anterior with terminal split, long paired composite posterior prolongations separated for most of length, narrowing and further divided distally for about a quarter of total plate length, not joined; inter-radial plates composite, tapered to anterior point, truncate posteriorly; stone canal attached to alimentary canal mesentery, ‘split-pea’ madreporite form; single polian vesicle.
Anterior body wall with abundant tables, tables regular, discs round to oval to triangular, up to 96
µ
m long, 2 large central perforations, smaller perforations nearer margin, predominantly 40–50 small perforations, spires with 2 pillars, 24
µ
m long, 2 tapered ends distally; some table discs rosettelike; some table discs curved for tube foot support; tentacles with abundant perforated plates, rosettes; plates variable in shape, some plates narrow, elongate with large perforations and distal blunt teeth, sometimes small branches along margin of plate, plates up to 280
µ
m long, some plates cross-shaped with perforate arms, some plates oval with four large central perforations, smaller surrounding ones and distal blunt teeth, plates up to 160
µ
m long, some plates curved with denticulate margin and numerous small perforations, plates up to 120
µ
m long; rosettes oval, up to 88
µ
m long; peri-oral body wall with tables and rods; tables with 2 spires, discs with 2 central large perforations, small perforations between central large ones and disc margin, each disc with up to more than 30 small perforations, discs about 104
µ
m long; peri-oral ossicles irregular wide perforated rods, up to 272
µ
m long, sometimes crosses.
Figure 22. SEM images of ossicles from specimen of
Thyone okeni
Bell, 1884
(AM J7731). Peri-oral body wall rosette and tables with multibranched spires (top); dumbbell-shaped ossicles from tentacles (bottom).
Figure 23. SEM images of ossicles from paratype of
Thyone spenceri
O’Loughlin
sp. nov.
(SAM K2565). Tables from anterior body wall (top); plates and rosettes from tentacles (bottom).
Colour (preserved)
. Body off-white; tentacles brown with dark brown to black markings.
Distribution
.
South Australia
, Upper Spencer Gulf,
15–
18 m
.
Etymology.
Named with reference to Spencer Gulf in
South Australia
where the
type
specimens were collected.
Remarks.
Both the
holotype
and
paratype
of
Thyone spenceri
O’Loughlin
sp. nov.
are damaged and most of the body wall has been lost. But there are good morphological systematic characters for the erection of this new
Thyone
Oken species.
Thyone spenceri
is distinguished from other southern Australian
Thyone
species
in the key (above).