Cucamba psolidiformis (Vaney) Vaney, 2009

O’Loughlin, Mark, Manjón-Cabeza, Eugenia & Ruiz, Francina Moya, 2009, Antarctic holothuroids from the Bellingshausen Sea, with descriptions of new species (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Zootaxa 2016, pp. 1-16 : 2-3

Cucamba psolidiformis (Vaney) syn. nov., comb. nov.

Table 1.

Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908: 27 –28, pl. 2 figs 17, 18, pl. 4 figs 51–53.— Ekman, 1925: 89 –92, fig. 19.— Panning, 1949: 416.— Panning, 1955: 38.— Pawson, 1969: pl. 22 map 2.

Cucumaria conspicua Vaney, 1908: 29 , pl. 2 figs 15, 16, pl. 5 fig. 67.— Panning, 1949: 416.— Panning, 1955: 38.— Pawson, 1969: pl. 22 map 2 (new synonym).

Cucumaria armata Vaney, 1908: 31 –32, pl. 5 figs 57, 58 (new synonym).

Caespitugo diversipes Gutt, 1990: 102 –104, figs 1–4, table 1.— Gutt, 1991: 323 –324.—O’Loughin et al., 1994: 549, 555, table 2 (new synonym).

Remarks. Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 has a circum-polar distribution (M. O’Loughlin pers. obs.). The distinguishing characters of Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney and Caespitugo diversipes Gutt, 1990 are: hard parchment-like body wall; long thin tail; mouth and anus terminal; 10 dendritic tentacles with ventral pair small; distinctive radial tube feet; inconspicuous interradial tube feet; irregular, perforated, elongate, narrow, thick, knobbed, single-layered, body wall ossicles. Caespitugo diversipes Gutt, 1990 is judged to be a junior synonym of Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 . Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 is referred to Cucamba O’Loughlin gen. nov. that has the diagnostic characters listed above.

O’Loughlin (2002) synonymised Cucumaria conspicua Vaney, 1908 with Psolicrux coatsi ( Vaney, 1908) . That synonymy is rejected here, based on a closer reading of the description by Vaney (1908) of the single small type specimen (10 mm long) that includes: large tube feet along the radii, and numerous very small tube feet over the interradii. The only Antarctic holothuroid with this type of tube foot arrangement is Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 . On this basis Cucumaria conspicua Vaney, 1908 is a junior synonym of Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 .

Ekman (1925) synonymised Cucumaria armata Vaney, 1908 with Cucumaria georgiana ( Lampert, 1886) , and C. armata has been included in the “ Cucumaria georgiana ( Lampert, 1886) group” created by Gutt (1988) and followed by Massin (1992). Cucumaria armata Vaney, 1908 is removed from that synonymy in this work. It is judged in this work to be a junior synonym of Cucumaria psolidiformis Vaney, 1908 , based on the following characters described by Vaney (1908): large numbers of small, close dorso-lateral tube feet; large, thick, irregular, often narrow, knobbed perforated plates (characteristic of C. psolidiformis ).