Taeniogyrus australianus ( Stimpson, 1855 )

O’Loughlin, P. Mark & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2010, A revision of Antarctic and some Indo-Pacific apodid sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Apodida), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 67, pp. 61-95 : 86

Taeniogyrus australianus ( Stimpson, 1855)

Figures 9c , 13 ; table 3

Chiridota australiana Stimpson, 1855: 386 .— Lampert, 1885: 230.— Ludwig, 1898: 82–83.

Taeniogyrus australianus .— Semper, 1867: 23.—H. L. Clark, 1908: 122.—H. L. Clark, 1921: 166.— Heding, 1928: 310, 311, 315–316, fig. 67(9–16).—H. L. Clark, 1946: 459.—Rowe (in Rowe and Gates), 1995: 267.

Sigmodota australiana .—Östergren, 1898: 118.

Material examined. Australia, Sydney, Collaroy, Long Reef, in sand, AM J20086 (2); same lot, RBINS IG 31 459 (1 whole for SEM images); AM J12542 (1); Middle Harbour, AM J16377 (1); Lord Howe I., AM J16373 (1); Heron I., AM J19570 (11).

Diagnosis. Taeniogyrid species up to 95 mm long (preserved); 10 peltato-digitate tentacles, 6–7 pairs of digits per tentacle, longest distally; single madreporite at oral end of dorsal mesentery, mushroom-like head; single ventral elongate sac-like polian vesicle; 2 series of crowded ciliated funnels, on left edge of left ventral radial muscle, and right edge of mid-ventral radial muscle; chiridotid wheels in large to small discrete papillae, wheels 48–88 µ m diameter; sigmoid hooks in small papillae, not scattered, hooks 120–136 µ m long; tentacle rods thickened centrally, slightly curved, bifurcate ends, 72–104 µ m long.

Distribution. Eastern Australia (Mooloolaba in Queensland to Ulladulla in New South Wales; Great Barrier Reef; Heron I.; Lord Howe I.; 0–15 m ( Rowe and Gates 1995).

Remarks. Taeniogyrus australianus (Stimpson) is not an Antarctic apodid species but has not been fully illustrated in previous works and is included here as it is the type species of the revised genus Taeniogyrus , and its identity was confused by Théel (1886a). He described two specimens of Chiridota australiana Stimpson from Port William (with uncertainty whether New Zealand or Falkland Is) that were 35 mm long, with 10 tentacles, each with 4 pairs of digits, a single polian vesicle, wheels 140 µ m diameter with no evidence of clustering, hooks 140 µ m long. We agree with Ludwig (1898) that this evidence points to Taeniogyrus purpureus (Lesson) and the Falkland Is.

Figures

Figure 9. a, b, ossicles from the holotype of Scoliorhapis massini sp. nov. (Shag Rocks; NMV F168635). a, SEM of hook from the body wall; b, SEM of rods from a tentacle. c, enhanced colour photo of preserved specimen of Taeniogyrus australianus (Stimpson, 1855), showing wheel cluster papillae (large) and hook clusters (small) (27 mm long; Australia, Sydney Harbour, 1968; AM J16377).

Figure 13. SEM images for specimen of Taeniogyrus australianus (Stimpson, 1855) (Long Reef, Collaroy, Sydney; RBINS IG 31 459 ex AM J20086). a, plates from calcareous ring; b, wheels and hook from body wall; c, wheels from body wall; d, hooks from body wall; e, rods from tentacles.