Cnemidocarpa tinaktae Van Name, 1918

Monniot, Francoise, 2021, New records of deep-sea ascidians (Tunicata, Ascidiacea) from the New Caledonia region, Zootaxa 4996 (3), pp. 443-468 : 453-455

Cnemidocarpa tinaktae Van Name, 1918

Figure 11

Station: Kanadeep DW 4945. One specimen.

Cnemidocarpa tinaktae Van Name 1918 : Philippines; Millar 1975, Philippines. Monniot & Monniot 2003, Indonesia.

The spherical body was fixed by one third of its surface. The thick tunic is naked with a smooth surface with irregular furrows. The well spaced siphons are not protruding and are contracted inside the body. The body wall is opaque. About 25 thin and long oral tentacles alternate with smaller ones. The dorsal tubercle opens in an S shape inside a deep V of the prepharyngeal band. The musculature does not make ribbons but a dense felting. The rapheal membrane is high with a plain edge. The 4 branchial folds on each side ( Fig. 11A ) are high, having at least 25 longitudinal sinuses and separated from each other by six or seven sinuses. The space between the endostyle and the next fold is larger. The digestive loop occupies a small part of the left body side ( Fig. 11B ). The oesophagus is short and narrow followed by a long stomach with eight or nine longitudinal folds on its internal wall ( Fig. 11B ). The intestine curves in a primary loop and bend to a short secondary curve at the stomach level. A small buttonlike caecum is present at the junction to the intestine. The anus has two lips slightly lobed. The gonads ( Fig. 11B ) are long and sinuous, sometimes branched at their ventral extremity ten on the right side and five on the left. They adhere to the body wall but are not embedded in it; the male and female ducts are joined in a single papilla. Endocarps are present everywhere on the body wall and some fill the gut loop ( Fig. 11B ). A ring of filiform papillae is present at the base of an atrial velum.

The New Caledonian specimen in a round body with a naked and furrowed surface has a characteristic shape. It well corresponds to those described from the Philippines ( Van Name 1918; Millar 1975) and those from Indonesia ( Monniot & Monniot 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Cnemidocarpa tinaktae, A, branchial sac ventrally opened; B, body ventrally opened branchial sac removed. Scale bars = 1cm.