Laetmogone violacea Théel, 1879

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 141

Laetmogone violacea Théel, 1879

Reports for the Azores:

non Laetmogone wyvillethomsoni Théel, 1879 —? $ Hérouard 1902: 31–32, pl. 4, figs. 10–16;

Laetmogone violacea Théel, 1879 — $ Perrier 1902: 390–398, pl. 19, figs. 1–7; Mortensen 1927a: 361–363, figs. 213, 214; Deichmann 1930: 120–121; Grieg 1932: 5; $ Hansen 1975: 58–61, figs. 21–22, pl. 8, fig. 8, pl. 9, figs. 9–10; Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992a: 171; García-Diez et al. 2005: 52.

Type locality: South Pacific Ocean .

See: Perrier (1902); Hansen (1975).

Occurrence: cosmopolitan, present in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans; from Greenland and Iceland ( Heding 1942) south to Cape Verde ( Hérouard 1923), including the archipelagos of the Azores ( Perrier 1902).

Depth: 225– 1,804 m ( Hansen 1975); AZO: 1,442–? 1,550 m ( Hérouard 1902, Perrier 1902).

Habitat: epibenthic deposit-feeder on soft sediments, muddy sand to mud ( Hérouard 1923, Hanse 1975).

Larval stage: lecithotrophic ( Tyler et al. (1985c).

Remarks: Perrier (1902) identified L. violacea among the material collected by Talisman in the NE Atlantic, including specimens from the Azores (sta 121, 1883: 37°35’N, 29°25’46”W, 1,442 m). During the same year, Hérouard (1902) described another species of the same genus from Azorean waters, the Antarctic Laetmogone wyvillethomsoni (Princesse Alice, sta 683: 38°20’N, 28°04’45”W, 1,550 m). Historically, L. violacea has been confused with L. wyvillethomsoni . Hansen (1975) considered that L. wyvillethomsoni was restricted to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica waters and all historical reports from the Atlantic (e.g., Koehler 1896c; Grieg 1932) would prove to be misidentifications with closely similar species such as L. violacea . However, when Hansen re-examined the material assigned to L. wyvillethomsoni dredged by Princesse Alice in the Azores, the author believed that it belonged to a new species. Unfortunately, the poor preservation and the small number of specimens that constituted Princesse Alice ’s material did not allow Hansen to further provide a clear identification. No other specimens sharing the characteristics of Princesse Alice material were reported again and the matter is still unresolved. Nevertheless, some authors like García-Diez et al. (2005) have placed the record of L. wyvillethomsoni by Hérouard in the synonymy of L. violacea .