Pseudocnella insolens ( Théel, 1886 ), Theel, 1886

Thandar, Ahmed S. & Rambaran, Ryan, 2015, On some sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from off the south and west coasts of South Africa collected by the South African Environmental and Observation Network (SAEON), Zootaxa 3999 (1), pp. 41-61 : 58

Pseudocnella insolens ( Théel, 1886)

( Figs. 10 )

Cucumaria insolens Théel, 1886:70 , pl. 4, fig. 5.

Pseudocnella insolens ; Thandar,1987:289, figs. 1a, 2, 5a–c (synonymy); Thandar, 2008: 22 (partim).

Diagnosis (See Thandar 1987).

Material examined. A31605, South Coast Survey 2011, off Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay, 34° 25'S, 22° 52'E), Demersal Trawl 026-3448, Cruise 273, 102 m, 16/04/2011, Lara Atkinson, 2 spec; A31610, South Coast Survey 2011, off Plettenberg Bay, 34° 9'S, 23° 24'E), Trawl 031-2271, Cruise 273, 75 m, 17/04/2011, Lara Atkinson, 4 spec.

Distribution (after Thandar 2008). Luderitz ( Namibia) to Port Elizabeth ( South Africa), 0– 110 m.

Remarks. This is a well-known southern African endemic previously much confused with other congenerics but this controversy was cleared up by Cherbonnier (1952) and Thandar (1987). Natasen Moodley (2000), analysed the ossicles of several forms and this was summarised by Thandar (2008). No brood pouches described for the species by Cherbonnier (1952) and Thandar (1991) were observed.

A species of some contention is Cucumaria leonina var. africana described by Britten (1910) from Luderitz ( Namibia) and assigned to the genus Pseudocnus by Panning (1949). This species, never found again, was erroneously relegated to the synonymy of Pseudocnella insolens by H.L. Clark (1923) and this was reiterated by Deichmann (1948), Cherbonnier (1952) and Thandar (1987, 1991). It is here recommended that Panning’s (1962) re-description of Britten’s species as Pseudocnus dubiosus africanus , presumably from type material, must be upheld until a revision of the genus Pseudocnus , currently in progress, is completed.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Pseudocnella insolens (Theel, 1886). A 31610 and A 31605. A. Body wall plates; B. Tube feet rods; C. Developing plate; D. Body wall buttons and / or plates; E. Body wall incomplete baskets; F – H. Tentacle rods; I. Introvert ossicles; J. Anal region plates; K. Entire specimens, left A 31610, right A 31605, courtesy Lara Atkinson.