Scoliorhapis massini, 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 massini sp. nov.

Figures 1d , 9a, b ; tables 2, 3 Material examined. Holotype. Scotia Sea, Shag Rocks, 53.63°S 40.91°W, 206 m, BAS stn SR–EBS–4, NMV F168635.

Other material. Falkland Is, 50°55'S 59°58'W, 118 m, Discovery Expedition, William Scoresby stn 756, 10 Oct 1931, NHM 2010.105 – 109 (5).

Diagnosis. Elongate, thin, 20 mm long; 12 tentacles, 3 pairs of digits; tentacle ossicles slightly curved rods with central swelling and bifurcate ends, up to 80 µ m long; body wall ossicles sigmoid hooks only, not clustered, hooks 88–104 µ m long.

Colour (preserved). Reddish brown.

Distribution. Scotia Sea, Shag Rocks, 206 m.

Etymology. Named for Dr Claude Massin (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), with appreciation of a lifetime of magnificent contribution to holothuroid systematics and in particular here to Antarctic apodid studies.

Remarks. Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov. is erected for a single BAS BIOPEARL specimen that is in good condition. It is distinguished from the other two species of Scoliorhapis by the presence of 12 tentacles. In addition it has tentacle ossicles that are rods, not bracket-shaped, and the sigmoid hooks and tentacle rods are smaller than in the other two species (see Table 3).

Hérouard (1906) provided the very limited description of 12 tentacles and hook ossicles for specimens from the Bellingshausen Sea that he determined to be Sigmodota studeri (Théel) . The few diagnostic details would fit Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov.

The Discovery (1931) Falkland Is specimens occur at a similar depth to the Shag Rocks specimen and are provisionally referred to Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov. They are: brown; lack wheels; longer (up to 50 mm long); have 12 tentacles, each with more pairs of digits (up to 6); the ossicles are eroded; the tentacle rods are of similar form but longer (120–160 um long); the hooks longer (120–176 um long). The significantly larger ossicles may reflect the larger specimen sizes or another new species of Scoliorhapis .

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).

Figure 9. a, b, ossicles from the holotype of Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov. (Shag Rocks; NMV F168635). a, SEM of hook from the body wall; b, SEM of rods from a tentacle. c, enhanced colour photo of preserved specimen of Taeniogyrus australianus (Stimpson, 1855), showing wheel cluster papillae (large) and hook clusters (small) (27 mm long; Australia, Sydney Harbour, 1968; AM J16377).