Sigillina australis Savigny, 1816

Kott, Patricia, 2008, Ascidiacea (Tunicata) from deep waters of the continental shelf of Western Australia, Journal of Natural History 42 (15 - 16), pp. 1103-1217 : 1128

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930801935958
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E8619D71-2D5B-4237-FE0E-FDFCFCEDF941
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Sigillina australis Savigny, 1816
status

Treatment

Sigillina australis Savigny, 1816 View in CoL

Sigillina australis Savigny 1816, p. 179 View in CoL . Kott 1990a, p. 87.

Distribution

Previously recorded (see Kott, 1990a): Western Australia (Montebello I. to Albany); South Australia (Great Australian Bight, Investigator Strait); New South Wales ( Port Jackson to Nelson’s Bay ); New Zealand ( North Island ). New records: Western Australia CSIRO SS10 View Materials /05 (Albany, Stn 26, 212 m, 23.11.05, QM G328438 ; Kalbarri, Stn 96, 4,12,05, 435 m, QM G328473- 5 specimens; Kalbarri, Stn 102, 96– 98 m, 05.12.05, QM G328445 ; Shark Bay , Stn 115, 120 m, 7.12.05, QM G328136 , QM G328142 ; Shark Bay, Stn 116, 100 m, 07.12.05, QM G328135 ; Shark Bay, Stn 118, 100 m, 07.12.05, QM G328134 ; Carnarvon, Stn 124, 100 m, 08.12.05, QM G328145 ) .

Description

The heads of the colonies of the present specimens are often relatively short, and the stalks sometimes longer and thinner than those of Sigillina cyanea (which the present species closely resembles in its colony and zooid form). However, it lacks the characteristic colour of the latter species and is more or less grey or colourless in preservative.

The newly recorded specimens from Kalbarri appear to have been dried, although a large larva was detected in a brood pouch at the postero-dorsal corner of the thorax of zooids that otherwise had disintegrated. The larval trunk is 0.9 mm long and there are two vertically elongated antero-median adhesive organs. The tail is wound only halfway around the trunk. Other organs were not detected.

Remarks

The species has a similar range to that of S. cyanea , although its range is not interrupted across the Great Australian Bight and it also has been recorded from North Island ( New Zealand). Generally, this species appears to be a temperate one extending into the tropics on the western Australian coast, while S. cyanea has a characteristically tropical range extending into temperate waters in south-western Australia and onto the central New South Wales coast on the eastern seaboard of the continent.