New and little-known species of Didemnidae (Ascidiacea, Tunicata) from Australia (Part 3)
Author
Kott, Patricia
text
Journal of Natural History
2005
2005-06-30
39
26
2409
2479
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222930500087077
journal article
10.1080/00222930500087077
1464-5262
5215680
Polysyncraton cuculliferum
(
Sluiter, 1909
)
(
Figures 4A
,
18G
)
Diplosomoides cuculliferum
Sluiter 1909
, p 90
.
Polysyncraton cuculliferum
:
Kott 2002a
, p 30
and synonymy; 2004b, p 2476; 2004c, p 40.
Distribution
Previously recorded (see
Kott 2002a
,
2004b
): Northern Territory (Darwin, Bynoe Harbour); Queensland (Great Barrier Reef);
Indonesia
. New record: Northern Territory (Bynoe Harbour, QM G308715).
Figure 4. (A)
Polysyncraton cuculliferum
(QM G308715): larva. (B–D)
Polysyncraton galaxum
(SAM E3250): (B) thorax; (C) gut loop; (D) larva. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.
Description
The newly recorded colonies, spicules, zooids, and larvae are as previously described. The specimen differs from others in the distribution of spicules which do not form an opaque layer at the surface, although the branchial lobes, like six-petalled daisies, protrude from the surface of the colony, one petal usually being larger than the others. Also, spicules are present in the basal and the central test mass with some mud and other debris. Clumps of zooids are suspended in the extensive common cloacal cavity in test ligaments connecting the surface with the basal or central test. Larvae are found to have particularly large external horizontal ampullae on the left side and this has been confirmed in larvae previously recorded.
Remarks
The surface of the colony, with the spicule-filled lobes protruding from the surface, resembles the surface of some colonies of
Didemnum cygnuus
Kott, 2001
and
Polysyncraton papyrus
Kott, 2001
(see below). The common cloacal cavities are better developed in the newly recorded colony than has been reported previously. The appearance of the living colony, including its greenish colour, is identical with that shown by
Kott (2001
, Plate 5B) as is the colony from South Shell I., Darwin (QM G308604:
Kott 2004b
).
Kott (2004b)
is wrong in referring to the larval external horizontal ampulla on the right side of the larval trunk (it is always on the left); and the specimen from which the larva was taken is QM G308616 (not QM G308608
sic
).