Scotiazoa, Monniot & Tatián, 2020

Monniot, Françoise & Tatián, Marcos, 2020, Questions on the taxonomic status of species of Protoholozoa Kott 1969 (Ascidiacea Aplousobranchia, Holozoidae) with a description of a new genus, Zootaxa 4718 (2), pp. 261-268 : 267

Scotiazoa gen. nov.

Type species: Protoholozoa lilium Monniot et Monniot, 1982 .

Etymology: about the Antarctic research vessel “Scotia”, Scotish National Antarctic Expedition, SNAE.

Currently we include two former Protoholozoa species to this genus: P. lilium and P. cantarella .

The characters which separate Scotiazoa gen. nov. from Protoholozoa are fertilization/incubation mode and arrangement of the adhesive papillae. In Scotiazoa , larvae are incubated in a brood pouch and adhesive papillae are disposed in a triangle. In Protoholozoa , larvae are incubated in the atrial cavity and adhesive papillae are disposed in a line.

Waiting for further information on fertilization, modes of budding and disposition of adhesive papillae, we are maintaining P. australiensis , P. anthos and P. pigra . In addition, we keep all species in Holozoidae until there is a better definition of the family’s diagnostic characters. Additional well-fixed material is necessary for genetic investigations to specify the molecular relatedness of the different species.