Ascidians of the genus Aplidium collected on shallow hard-bottom reefs of coastal Georgia (Atlantic coast of N America, U. S. A.)
Author
Sanamyan, Karen
Author
Gleason, Daniel F.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2066
50
58
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.187005
2bd9a5c1-a63f-4a24-81a1-074e056bba1a
1175-5326
187005
Aplidium
sp.
(
Figure 4
C)
?
Aplidium lobatum
:
Van Name, 1945
: 28
(synonymy).
Monniot and Monniot, 1984
: 571
.
Material examined:
collected in 2004,
31°36.056' N
,
80°47.431' W
, specimen #246
Description.
The one colony examined is in rather poor condition. The colony is a small, irregular thin sheet encrusting a colony of bryozoa. The peripheral layer of the test is filled with minute granules and by large amounts of sand which are present in the internal test. The zooids are strongly contracted and up to
4 mm
long, but usually shorter. A simple, small atrial languet arises from the upper margin of the slit-like atrial opening. The branchial sac has 9 rows of stigmata, but the number of stigmata per row is obscured. The abdomen is the same size as the thorax. The stomach is asymmetrical and has five, deep longitudinal folds. The posterior abdomen is about half as long as the zooid and zooids examined contain no gonads.
Remarks.
This specimen might be identical to
A. lobatum
:
Van Name, 1945
although the latter specimens may have fewer rows of stigmata ("about seven" according to
Van Name 1945
: 29). The specimens from
Guadeloupe
have nine rows of stigmata (
Monniot and Monniot, 1984
). It is difficult to determine if all of the mentioned specimens belong to the same species, although they are probably not related to
A. lobatum
Savigny, 1816
originally described from the Red Sea (for discussion see
Kott, 1992
: 512–513).