Symplegma rubra Monniot C. 1972

Monniot, Françoise, 2018, Ascidians collected during the Madibenthos expedition in Martinique: 2. Stolidobranchia, Styelidae, Zootaxa 4410 (2), pp. 291-318 : 303

Symplegma rubra Monniot C. 1972

Fig. 10B

Monniot C. 1972, Bermuda

Monniot F. 2016b French Guiana and synonymy Station : AM 34 ( MNHN S1 YM 94)

The zooids are coalescent in thin sheets. No colour remains in formalin but there is an obvious design of a network of blood vessels. The zooids are easily removed from the tunic as only attached by the apical oral siphon and atrial siphon in the middle of the dorsal side. The anatomy is described in Monniot C. (1972) and is the same here. In Martinique also the colonies have separate sexes. They are immature ( Fig. 10B ) or with large ovaries and incubated tadpoles and no testis lobes were found. Separated sexes and brancial vessels differentiate S. rubra from S. brakenhielmi . In S. rubra the first longitudinal vessel on the left side extends to the oesophagus aperture when in S. brakenhiemi it joins the dorsal lamina at mid length ( Fig.10A ).

S. rubra is recorded from the Caribbean area down to Brazil (Rocha & Costa 2005) but also in the Indian Ocean (Monniot F & C. 1997, Tanzania; Monniot F. 2012, Madagascar) .

Figures

FIGURE 10. A, Symplegma brakenhielmi zooid ventrally opened. B, Symplegma rubra zooid ventrally opened. Scale bars = 1mm.