Cucusquama wesafrica O’Loughlin, 2016

O’Loughlin, P. Mark, 2016, The Discovery Expedition sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 75, pp. 53-70 : 58-64

Cucusquama wesafrica O’Loughlin sp. nov.

Zoobank LSID. http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D4A442DB-36E7-453C-945D-47FA23AB6CAA

Table 1 ; figures 5, 6

Material examined. Holotype. West Africa , Luanda, Angola, Discovery stn D 274, -8.84 13.23 64–65 m, 4 Aug 1927, NHMUK 2016.148 .

Paratypes (4). West Africa , off Cape Lopez , Gambon ( French Congo), Discovery stn D 279, -0.63 8.70 58–67 m, 10 Aug 1927, NHMUK 2016.149 – 152 .

Description. Body (preserved) up to 13 mm axial length, up to 3 mm high, body form sub-pentagonal, body tapered anteriorly and posteriorly, long posterior taper to create a tail; body completely invested in imbricating scales, free ends of imbricating scales point posteriorly; oral disc at base of oral cavity created by anteriorly-projecting scales; no anal scales detected; 10 short, lobed, black tentacles in ring on oral disc; ring not strongly calcified, form weakly evident, cucumariid-like; internal organs shriveled, brittle; tube feet on radii only, in single spaced series, up to 12 tube feet on any radius, tube feet more strongly developed on mid-ventral and ventro-lateral radii, wall of tube feet covered with imbricating scales.

Body wall ossicles single-layered perforated plates only, irregularly oval; large plates scales up to 600 µ m long; some irregular smaller plates up to about 170 µ m long; no evidence of cups or tables detected. No tube foot endplates detected. No tentacle ossicles detected.

Distribution. Equatorial West Africa, off Angola and Gambon, 58– 67 m.

Etymology. Named wesafrica for the geographical occurrence of the species on the West Africa coast.

Remarks. All the type specimens have dried during preservation, and the calcareous ring and ossicles are partly at least eroded. The ring does not have a recognizable outline in any specimen that was dissected. The form and number of the tentacles are difficult to observe. The sub-pentagonal form, complete body cover of imbricating scales with free ends pointing posteriorly, 10 short lobed tentacles, radial series of tube feet, and absence of cups or tables distinguish the new genus and species.