Ocnus capensis ( Théel, 1886 ), MS

O’Loughlin, P. Mark, 2016, The Discovery Expedition sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 75, pp. 53-70 : 68

2. Ocnus capensis ( Théel, 1886) .

We have identified a single Discovery Expedition specimen from the sub-littoral of Saldanha Bay in south-west South Africa as Ocnus capensis ( Théel, 1886) (MS 82, off Salamander Point, 7–14 m, 6 Sept 1926, NHMUK 2016.143). We based our determination on the description and illustration by Théel (1886) of the three type specimens collected from 179–274 meters off Cape Town in South Africa. Saldanha Bay is close to the type locality for this species. Based on our laboratory notes and sketches, Frank Rowe (pers. comm.) judged that the species is Ocnus capensis , but thought that the species would be better assigned to Pseudocnus Panning, 1949 . Rowe judged that genus Ocnus Forbes & Goodsir, 1839 (in Forbes, 1841) is restricted to the Mediterranean and north European shore, and that genus Pentacta Goldfuss, 1820 is a monotypic endemic South Africa genus. Thandar (1991) described and illustrated and discussed Ocnus capensis , and Ahmed Thandar (pers. comm.) expressed some doubt about our identification. He considered the species to be a deep water one. We acknowledge that there is thus some doubt about our identification.