Ascidia archaia Sluiter, 1890

Bonnet, Nadia Y. K., Rocha, Rosana M. & Carman, Mary R., 2013, Ascidiidae Herdman, 1882 (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) on the Pacific coast of Panama, Zootaxa 3691 (3), pp. 351-364 : 354

Ascidia archaia Sluiter, 1890

( Fig. 1)

Material examined: DZUP ASC 185 – 2 ind.; Canales de Afuera Island; 13.0 m, under dead shell; 13/i/2009; col.: S. Bullard.

Individuals are 1.6 cm long at most. The body musculature comprises slim fibers, oblique to the dorsal margin of the body on the right side of the animal. White discs occur along transverse vessels in living animals. There are approximately 30 longitudinal vessels on each side of the pharynx with 3–5 stigmata per mesh and small secondary papillae. The ovary is long and subdivided into few and large lobes, restricted to the primary intestinal loop.

Remarks. Characteristics agree with previous descriptions (Kott 1985; Nishikawa 1986; Bonnet & Rocha 2011), and there is no doubt in the identification of the species. The present distribution of A. archaia includes the regions of the Tropical Western Atlantic coast (Van Name 1945; Monniot 1983; Bonnet & Rocha 2011; Rocha et al. 2012) and the Indo-Pacific (Kott 1981, 1985; Nishikawa 1986; Monniot 1987, 1997; Monniot & Monniot 1987, 2001). Its presence in Panama could be due to human transportation, since these locations are very distant from each other and it is improbable that the species naturally dispersed by its own means.