Taxonomic review of four western Atlantic dendrochirotids (Holothuroidea) with the description of a new Brazilian cucumariid species and designation of neotypes
Author
Martins, Luciana
Author
Souto, Camilla
text
Zootaxa
2015
3919
2
362
374
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3919.2.8
7481c9c7-cebe-4f61-ab79-2966d3f14f6a
1175-5326
243332
DA3D4F61-2483-42AA-BA7E-7C97F6976821
Cucumaria solangeae
sp. nov.
(
Figures 7–8
)
Type
material.
Holotype
: Pituba beach,
Salvador
, BA,
Brazil
(
13°00’ S
;
38°27’ W
): intertidal,
1 February
1994
, 4 cm length (
UFBA
650).
Paratypes
: same locality and date as
Holotype
, 8 spms
2–4 cm
long (
UFBA
1750;
MZUSP
286–290;
ZUEC
HOL
21– 22).
Diagnosis.
Body fusiform. Tube feet arranged in double rows restricted to the ambulacral region. Ten tentacles, ventral-most pair smaller. Calcareous ring compact and simple, lacking posterior processes; plates laterally united at the base. Deposits: body wall with knobbed buttons; introvert and tentacles with rods; tube feet with endplate and supporting rods; anal region with plates.
Etymology.
Named after Dr. Solange Peixinho (
in memorian
), in recognition of her dedication and contribution to the taxonomy of marine invertebrates, and for collecting the specimens described herein.
Description.
Body fusiform, tapering to the posterior end (
Fig. 7
A), maximum length
4 cm
. Tube feet arranged in double rows restricted to the ambulacral region, although a few scattered tube feet may also be present. Ten tentacles, ventral-most pair smaller (
Fig. 7
B). Anal region with five thin papillae (
Fig. 7
C) and calcareous teeth. Calcareous ring compact and simple, lacking posterior processes (
Fig. 7
D–E). Radial plates broad at the base and tapering at the anterior region (we tried to remove the tissue to look if there really is a bifurcation at the apex but the radials were too fragile and disintegrated). Interradial plates curved at the base and tapering at the anterior region. Radial and interradial plates of same height and laterally united at the base. Coloration in ethanol: body light brown, tentacles dark purple, tube feet brown. Details of the internal morphology could not be observed because of the poor conservation of the specimens.
Deposits: body wall with four-holed (rarely five-holed) buttons (70–120 µm) (
Fig. 8
A). Introvert and tentacles with arched rods with one perforation at each extremity and two in the middle (150–180 µm) (
Fig. 8
B). Tube feet with endplate (200–400 µm) and supporting rods with small perforations at the extremities and an enlarged central region with a large perforation (
Fig. 8
C) (140–160 µm). Anal region with two-layered perforated plates (300–400 µm) (
Fig. 8
D), (300–400 µm), elongated and knobbed perforated plates (
Fig. 8
E), and perforated plates with irregular margins (400–600 µm) (
Fig. 8
F).
FIGURE 7.
Cucumaria solangeae
sp. nov.
—Holotype (UFBA 650): (A) lateral view of body; (B) top view of dendritic tentacles, showing two large tentacles on the right and the ventral-most two smaller tentacles on the left; (C) anal papillae; and (D) drawing of calcareous ring. Paratype (ZUEC HOL 21): (E) calcareous ring. Scale bars: A, 2 cm; B, C, 1 cm; E, 1.5 mm.
Type
locality.
Pituba beach,
Salvador
– BA,
Brazil
.
Biological notes.
Specimens collected under rocks.
Remarks.
Cucumaria solangeae
sp. nov.
is the first record of the genus in
Brazil
, and differs from the five other valid Atlantic species [
C. frondosa
(
Gunnerus 1767
)
,
C. georgiana
Lampert 1886
,
C. arcuata
(
Herouard 1921
)
,
C. parassimilis
Deichmann 1930
, and
C. acuta
Massin 1992
] by the presence of knobbed buttons in its body wall. Some previously described
Cucumaria
species with knobbed buttons have been transferred to other genera; however, we place
C. solangeae
sp. nov.
in this genus because of the combination of characters (i.e. arrangement of tube feet, morphology of the calcareous ring, shape of plates, absence of cups on body wall).
FIGURE 8.
Holotype of
Cucumaria solangeae
sp. nov.
(UFBA 650): SEM images of the ossicles—(A) buttons from body wall; (B) rods from introvert and tentacles; (C) supporting rods from tube feet; (D–F) plates from anal region. Scale bars: A–C, 50 µm; D–F, 100 µm.
Other congeners with knobbed buttons are
Cucumaria crax
Deichmann 1941
and
Cucumaria flamma
Solís-
Marín & Laguarda-Figueras 1999
, from the Pacific coast of
Mexico
; however, their buttons are rudimentary (i.e.
reduced knobbed edges) and these species have tentacles of the same size (vs. ventral-most two smaller in
C. solangeae
sp. nov.
). The species
Cucumaria compressa
(
Perrier 1898
)
from the northeastern Atlantic and
Cucumaria vicaria
Sluiter 1910
from the northwestern Atlantic have cups in the body wall and should not be classified within the subfamily
Cucumariinae
. According to the classification proposed by
Smirnov (2012)
, these species should be Colochirinae.