Paracaudina reductia, Davey, Nicola & O’Loughlin, Mark, 2013

Davey, Nicola & O’Loughlin, Mark, 2013, The caudinid sea cucumbers of New Zealand (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Molpadida: Caudinidae), Zootaxa 3613 (4), pp. 357-368 : 366

Paracaudina reductia sp. nov.

Figures 1 f, 7

Paracaudina species O’Loughlin et al. (2011)

Material examined. Holotype. New Zealand, Chatham Rise, NIWA 70957, Cruise 2029/Stn V371, 43.00 S, 179.00 E, 546 m, 12/09/1989.

Description. Paracaudina species up to 37 mm total length, diameter up to 6 mm, caudal taper and long discrete tail 15 mm long; body wall parchment like and flexible, prickly, finely wrinkled anteriorly and posteriorly, tail brittle.

Ossicles in mid-body wall and tail are marginally knobbed octagonal closed cups with a basal cross central superstructure reduced to a small X or H-shape, up to 70 µ m long, and with approximately 8 marginal perforations and a large central one beneath the cross.

Colour (preserved). White

Distribution. New Zealand: Chatham Rise, 546 m.

Etymology. From the Latin reductio (reduced), referring to the reduced cross superstructure that characterise the knobbed closed cup ossicles in this species.

Remarks. O’Loughlin et al. (2011) illustrated the body wall ossicles of a single specimen of a Paracaudina species from Chatham Rise and suspected it to be new. This same specimen is here described as P. re d u c t i a sp. nov. We have added some ossicle and specimen photos to further illustrate the single specimen. P. re d u c t i a is distinguished from other New Zealand species of Paracaudina by the distinctly reduced nature of the nonperforated central cross superstructure on the ossicle. This reduced cross sometimes appears as a low H-shape and the specimen does not exhibit any of the ossicle types of P. chilensis or P. coriacea , as stated by O’Loughlin et al. (2011).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photos of preserved specimens of species in the family Caudinidae Heding, 1931: a, Hedingia glabra (Théel, 1886) (NIWA 64078); b, Paracaudina alta sp. nov. (NIWA 68129); c, Paracaudina chilensis (Müller, 1850) (NIWA 77411); d, Paracaudina coriacea (Hutton, 1872) (NIWA 70954); e, Paracaudina coriacea (Hutton, 1872) lectotype (NHMUK 98.10.8.1.2); f, Paracaudina reductia sp. nov. (NIWA 70957).