Thagria quadrispinosa, NIELSON, 2013

NIELSON, M. W., 2013, <strong> New records of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic sea anemones (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia) from the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, and Scotia Arc </ strong>, Zootaxa 3625 (1), pp. 1-105 : 69-71

Thagria quadrispinosa , sp. nov.

( Plate 2H , Figs. 117–123 )

Length. Male 7.00 mm; female unknown

External morphology. Medium size, slender species. General color light to dark brown with narrow, broken yellow transverse band subapically and broad yellow band apically on forewings ( Plate 2H ); face pale yellow with 2 longitudinal light brown stripes. Head narrower than pronotum, anterior margin slightly conical; crown broad, about as wide as eye width, produced distally about 1/3 of entire median length, lateral margins convergent at basal half, disk slightly elevated; eyes large, semiglobular; pronotum moderately large, about as long as median length of crown, surface bullated; mesonotum large, about as long medially as pronotum; forewings typical; clypeus long, lateral margins excised near base of antennal sockets; clypellus short, flat basally, narrower than apex of clypeus.

Male genitalia. Pygofer in lateral and dorsal views with caudoventral lobe short, abruptly angulate apically, caudodorsal margin with 2 pair of processes, dorsal pair long, digitate, curved ventrally, ventral pair short, narrow ( Figs. 117, 118 ); segment X ventral processes with bifid ventral processes ( Figs. 117, 118 ); aedeagus symmetrical, moderately long, reaching to about midlength of ventral paraphysis ( Figs. 119, 120 ); ventral paraphysis in dorsal view symmetrical, keeled ventrally in lateral view with 2 long spines subapically, 1 each on dorsolateral margins and with pair of short spines apically, spines directed dorsally in lateral view ( Figs. 119, 120 ); style short, reaching to about base of aedeagus ( Fig. 121 ); connective atypical, elongate ( Fig. 119 ); dorsal connective in dorsobasal view, narrowly Y-shape with long stem, rami as long as stem, attached distally to base of ventral processes of segment X ( Fig. 122 ); subgenital plate long, broad, with tuft of long fine setae apically ( Fig. 123 ).

Material examined. PHILIPPINES. Holotype male. N. Palawan, Bahile , 50 m. 22.12.1992, Bolm leg. ( BRNO).

Etymology. The name is descriptive for the spines on the ventral paraphysis.

Remarks. This species belongs to a group possessing a ventral keeled process on the paraphysis which is a common feature among several species in the Philippines. From aculeata Nielson to which it is most similar in genitalia characters, quadrispinosa can be distinguished by length and configuration of the pygofer processes, dorsal pair lacking ventral spine, by the much shorter ventral pair and by the presence of 2 pair of spines on the ventral paraphysis.

Figures

PLATE 2. A–H. Thagria, dorsal habitus. (A) Thagria intorta, sp. nov., holotype; (B) Thagria iuxta, sp. nov., holotype; (C) Thagria lobata, sp. nov., holotype; (D) Thagria longicatilla, sp. nov., holotype; (E) Thagria malenovskyi, sp. nov., holotype; (F) Thagria oldfieldi, sp. nov., holotype; (G) Thagria paraunca, sp. nov., holotype; (H) Thagria quadrimaculata, sp. nov., holotype.

FIGURES 117–123. Thagria quadrispinosa, sp. nov. (117) pygofer and exposed segment X ventral process, lateral view; (118) pygofer caudodorsal processes and segment X ventral processes, dorsal view; (119) connective, aedeagus and ventral paraphysis, dorsal view; (120) aedeagus and ventral paraphysis, lateral view; (121) style, lateral view; (122) dorsal connective, dorsobasal view; (123) subgenital plate, lateral view.