Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931

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 : 84-86

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.24199/j.mmv.2010.67.06
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5A8C650E-A34A-4072-A797-0A75D218DD7C
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/365B627F-FF9A-FFCE-FCC6-58F7FCDA5BFC
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931
status

Treatment

Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931 View in CoL

Figures 1f View Figure 1 , 12 View Figure 12 ; tables 2, 3

Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931: 685–691 View in CoL , fig. 15(1–12).—

Pawson, 1969a: 141.— Massin and Hétérier, 2004: 442–443, table 1.

Material examined. Western Antarctica, Scotia Sea, S Orkney Is, 60.82°S 46.49°W, 216 m, BAS GoogleMaps stn PB–EBS–4, 18 Mar 2006, NMV F168630 About NMV (1) ; NMV F168640 About NMV (2 as tissue samples, codes MOL AF799, 800) ; NMV F168641 About NMV (2 as tissue samples, codes MOL AF801, 802) ; NHM 2010.5 – 14 (10) ; NHM 2010.15 – 34 (20) ; RBINS IG 31 About RBINS 459 (2 whole, SEM figures).

Shag Rocks, 53.63°S 40.91°W, 206 m, BAS GoogleMaps stn SR–EBS–4, 11 Apr 2006, NMV F168636 About NMV (1) ; RBINS IG 31 About RBINS 459 (1 whole, SEM figures); NHM 2010.51 – 52 (2).

Diagnosis. Up to 15 mm long; 10 tentacles; 5 pairs of digits, terminal/distal pair longest; 3–9 polian vesicles; few long, thin ciliated funnels with long membranaceous collar, short funnel, and distinct peduncle; chiridotid wheels 40–80 µ m diameter (no data in Heding 1931; 40–80 µ m, S Orkney Is; 48–64 µ m, Shag Rocks), wheels in a few small clusters dorsally; hooks scattered in body wall, 64–208 µ m long (172–200 µ m, Heding 1931 fig. 15; 80–208 µ m, S Orkney Is; 64–168 µ m, Shag Rocks); tentacle rods straight to slightly bent to bracket-shaped, dichotomously branching ends, rare blunt spines along rods, rare rounded hub in mid-rod, 64–128 µ m long (83–103 µ m, Heding 1931 fig. 15; 80–128 µ m, S Orkney Is; 64–72 µ m, Shag Rocks).

Colour (preserved). Pale yellow-brown.

Distribution. Western Antarctica, Scotia Sea, South Orkney Is, South Georgia, Shag Rocks, 206–216 m (0–15 m for South Georgia in Massin and Hétérier 2004).

Remarks. Heding (1931) erected his new species for many specimens from South Georgia, by distinguishing them within a discussion of Taeniogyrus contortus (Ludwig) . Massin and Hétérier (2004 table) listed 12 tentacles for Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding , but in the last sentence of his discussion Heding (1931) noted that Taeniogyrus contortus specimens all had 12 tentacles “apart from this example” (referring to his new species Taeniogyrus antarcticus ).

Panning (1936) considered Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding to be at best a subspecies of Taeniogyrus contortus Ludwig. Pawson (1969a) followed Panning (1936). On the basis of tentacle number we disagree. Based on tentacle number and ossicle sizes we judge that the specimens from South Georgia that were examined by Panning (1936) were Sigmodota contorta (Ludwig) .

There are significant differences in the measurement sizes available for ossicles from different localities in the Scotia Sea, as can be seen in Table 3. The variations may be the result of size of specimen sampled or location of the sample taken from the body wall. Or the variations may indicate cryptic speciation. In this study we found that for this species the limited data available indicate that maximum ossicle size increases with specimen size. The type locality for Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding is South Georgia .

Taeniogyrus antarcticus Heding, 1931 View in CoL is the sole western Antarctic species of Taeniogyrus View in CoL . A new species of Taeniogyrus View in CoL from eastern Antarctica is described below, with significantly longer sigmoid hooks and a single polian vesicle.