Pseudumbellula pomona (Risaro, Williams & Lauretta in Risaro et al. 2020 (Risaro, Williams & Lauretta, 2020)

Risaro, Jessica & Abstract, Daniel Lauretta, 2023, Sea Pens (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Pennatuloidea) From The Mar Del Plata Submarine Canyon And Outskirts, Zootaxa 5389 (4), pp. 401-433 : 426-428

Pseudumbellula pomona (Risaro, Williams & Lauretta in Risaro et al. 2020 )

SYNONYMS

Umbellula pomona Risaro, Williams & Lauretta, 2020 (in Risaro et al. 2020); Pseudumbellula pomona : López-González & Drewery, 2022.

STUDIED MATERIAL

MACN-IN-42609, 3 specimens, St. 46 (38º 5.31’S, 53º39.99’W), September 2013, 3282 m. MACN-IN-42608, 1 specimen, St. 45 (38º1.91’S, 53º39.27’W), September 2013, 2934 m.

DESCRIPTION

This species was recently described from Argentinian waters ( Risaro et al. 2020).

Distribution: The four specimens were found in a bathymetric range between 2900 m and 3300 m.

REMARKS: As with many other species of the genus Pseudumbellula , this inhabits deep water.

DISCUSSION

Family Pseudumbellulidae arises from molecular studies based on the family Umbellulidae . Umbellulidae was a polyphyletic family, with two differentiated groups ( Dolan et al. 2013; Kushida & Reimer 2019; Risaro et al. 2020). López-González and Drewery (2022) made a molecular revision of different species belonging to these family and created a new one in which they include all the “ Umbellula ” like sea pens with circular axes in cross-section. They also created two genera within the new family: Solumbellula , specimens with only one terminal autozooid, and Pseudumbellula , specimens with numerous terminal autozooids. Many species that used to belong to the family Umbellulidae were transferred to Pseudumbellulidae , including Pseudumbellula pomona for having a distal cluster of three autozooids and circular axis in cross section; and Solumbellula monocephalus for having only one terminal autozooid.