Taeniogyrus Semper, 1867

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 : 84

Taeniogyrus Semper, 1867

Table 3

Taeniogyrus Semper, 1867: 23 .— Smirnov, 1998: 519.

(For synonymies see Ludwig 1898 and Pawson 1964).

Trochodota Ludwig, 1891: 358 .— Pawson, 1968: 24.— Pawson, 1970: 46.— Smirnov, 1998: 519.

(For synonymies see Ludwig 1898 and Pawson 1964).

Type species of Taeniogyrus Semper, 1867 . Chiridota australiana Stimpson, 1855 (monotypy).

Type species of Trochodota Ludwig, 1891 . Rowe (in Rowe and Gates 1995) proposed that “a case needs to be put to the ICZN to establish Holothuria (Fistularia) purpurea Lesson, 1830 as type species of Trochodota Ludwig, 1891 . Type species: Chiridota studeri Théel, 1886 , sensu Ludwig, 1891 = Holothuria (Fistularia) purpurea Lesson, 1830 (not Théel, 1886= Taeniogyrus contortus ( Ludwig, 1875)) by subsequent designation, Rowe, F. W. E., this work.” The type species proposed by Rowe is fixed here (under Article 69.2.4 of the 1999 edition of the ICZN Code) as Holothuria (Fistularia) purpurea Lesson, 1830 , misidentified as Chiridota studeri Théel, 1886a in the original inclusion of two species in his new genus by Ludwig (1891).

Other included species. Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931 ; Chiridota benhami Dendy, 1909 ; Taeniogyrus cidaridis Ohshima, 1915 ; Taeniogyrus clavus Heding, 1928 ; Taeniogyrus dayi Cherbonnier, 1952 ; Taeniogyrus dendyi Mortensen, 1925 ; Trochodota diasema H. L. Clark, 1921 (as T. diasemus ); Chiridota dunedinensis Parker, 1881 ; Taeniogyrus heterosigmus Heding, 1931 ; Trochodota inexpectata Smirnov, 1989 (as T. inexpectatus ); Chiridota japonica von Mareneller, 1881 (as T. japonicus ); Taeniogyrus keiensis Heding, 1928 ; Trochodota maculata H. L. Clark, 1921 (as T. maculatus ); Trochodota neocaladonica Smirnov, 1997 (as T. neocaladonicus ); Taeniogyrus papillis O’Loughlin, 2007 (in O’Loughlin and VandenSpiegel); Taeniogyrus prydzi sp. nov.; Holothuria (Fistularia) purpurea Lesson, 1830 (as T. purpureus ); Trochodota roebucki Joshua, 1914 ; Trochodota rosea Ohshima, 1914 (as T. roseus ); Taeniogyrus tantulus O’Loughlin, 2007 (in O’Loughlin and VandenSpiegel); Chiridota venusta Semon, 1887 (as T. venustus ).

Diagnosis. Taeniogyrinid genus with 10 peltato-digitate tentacles; 4–8 pairs of digits, terminal pair longest; rods in tentacles; chiridotid wheels and sigmoid hooks in body wall; teeth on the inner rim of wheels in continuous series; wheels and hooks variably grouped or scattered in body wall; no miliary granules in longitudinal muscles; 1–12 polian vesicles; ciliated funnels present.

Remarks. The succession of authors who have expressed dissatisfaction with the genera Taeniogyrus Semper and Trochodota Ludwig is mentioned in the Introduction. As discussed at the beginning of this paper and stated in the Remarks under Sigmodota we reject ossicle aggregation in the body wall as a generic diagnostic character, and judge that tentacle number is a good generic character. We thus raise Sigmodota Studer (taeniogyrinid species with 12 tentacles) out of synonymy with Taeniogyrus Semper (10 tentacles), and synonymise Trochodota Ludwig with Taeniogyrus Semper (taeniogyrinids with 10 tentacles).