Ascidians collected during the Madibenthos expedition in Martinique: 1 - Phlebobranchia Author Monniot, Françoise text Zootaxa 2018 2018-02-28 4387 3 451 472 journal article 30627 10.11646/zootaxa.4387.3.3 7eba4551-e113-4902-9cb3-26a4d5df2993 1175-5326 1187659 F0845057-D918-4693-8D80-E94E6CA6EE8C Ascidia curvata ( Traustedt 1882 ) Fig. 3 Stations: AB 155; AR 72; AR 103; AR 415. (MNHN P5 ASC.A 433) The specimens collected in Martinique are similar to other A. curvata collected in the Caribbean region and redescribed and figured in Bonnet & Rocha (2011) and Monniot F. (2016) . The tunic is transparent and the body wall pale yellow in formalin. Except for the absence of brown pigment and a smaller size ( 5 cm for the largest), a confusion is possible with A. interrupta inhabiting the same stations. The distinctive characters are 8 oral lobes with yellow spots, papillae on the prepharyngeal area, the intestine isodiametric in a long double loop ( Fig. 3A ). The neural gland and the U-shaped dorsal tubercle are distant and the musculature of a similar distribution ( Fig 3B ). The geographic distribution of A. curvata is limited to the tropical Western Atlantic ( Bonnet & Rocha 2011 ; Monniot 2016 ).