Scoliorhapis biopearli, O’Loughlin & VandenSpiegel, 2010

O’Loughlin, P. Mark & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2010, A revision of Antarctic and some Indo-Pacific apodid sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Apodida), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 67, pp. 61-95 : 78

Scoliorhapis biopearli sp. nov.

Figure 1c ; tables 2, 3

Material examined. Holotype. South Shetland Is, 61.61°S 51.22°W, 1544 m, BAS stn EI–EBS–1, NMV F168633 .

Diagnosis. Conical form, widest orally, tapered anally, dorsal projecting over ventral orally, 6 mm long; 10 tentacles, number of digits not evident; tentacle ossicles curved bracket-shaped rods with bluntly spinous distal outer edges, 112–120 µ m long; body wall ossicles sigmoid hooks only, in close transverse alignment, not clustered, hooks 168–184 µ m long.

Colour (preserved). White to translucent.

Distribution. South Shetland Is, 1544 m.

Etymology. Named for the British Antarctic Survey BIOPEARL expedition that collected and documented this specimen.

Remarks. This species is erected for a single, small BAS BIOPEARL specimen with tentacle and body wall ossicles that are eroded but retain distinguishable form and size. The presence of hooks only, and not wheels, in the body wall distinguishes this apodid specimen as a species of Scoliorhapis Clark. The distinctive presence of 10 tentacles distinguishes this species from the second new species of Soliorhapis Clark from Antarctica described below. Scoliorhapis biopearli sp. nov. is distinguished from the type species Scoliorhapis theeli (Heding) from eastern Australia by the larger size of the hooks (see Table 3) and transverse arrangement of the hooks in the body wall, and the spinous ends of the bracket-shaped tentacle ossicles.

Figures

Figure 1. Colour photos of preserved specimens of apodid species. a, Prototrochus linseae sp. nov. (7 mm long; S Shetland Is; holotype, NMV F168631); b, Kolostoneura griffithsi sp. nov. (12 mm long; insert drawings of tentacle rods, 96–112 µm long; S Orkney Is; holotype, NMV F168634); c, Scoliorhapis biopearli sp. nov. (6 mm long; insert drawing of tentacle rod, 115 µm long; S Shetland Is; holotype, NMV F168633); d, Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov. (20 mm long; Shag Rocks; holotype, NMV F168635); e, Sigmodota magnibacula (Massin and Hétérier, 2004) (15 mm long; S Orkney Is; NMV F168629); f, Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931 (15 mm long; S Orkney Is; NMV F168630).