Ritterella pulchra ( Ritter, 1901 )

Lambert, Gretchen, 2019, The Ascidiacea collected during the 2017 British Columbia Hakai MarineGEO BioBlitz, Zootaxa 4657 (3), pp. 401-436 : 414

Ritterella pulchra ( Ritter, 1901)

Figure 8 A–C

SHAK 25 BHAK 0631 UF 2482. Sixth Beach, low intertidal, rocky. One colony, yellowish–orange, stalked, the base sandy.

ZHAK 35 BHAK 3249, 3253 UF 2567, 2571. Fifth Beach, Sasquatch Commode tidepool. Short wide heads; second colony with longer heads; with Aplidium kottae and Distaplia smithi .

Each colony is composed of several or more lobes attached at a common base, each lobe with numerous zooids. Zooids visible through the tunic, though the tunic is less transparent than reported for California specimens. Zo- oids with eight–ten rows of stigmata, stomach with longitudinal ridges. See Ritter & Forsyth (1917) and Van Name (1945) for detailed morphological description. Distribution: Alaska to central California ( Van Name 1945; Abbott & Newberry 1980; O’Clair & O’Clair 1998; Lamb & Hanby 2005).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Aplousobranchia, Ritterellidae. A–C: Ritterella pulchra. A, whole colony; B, enlargement of one lobe of living colony; C, one zooid. D–G: Ritterella rubra. D, E: two lobes of same colony; F: one zooid; G; enlargement of thorax of same zooid. Scale bars: A, 0.7 cm; B, 1 mm; C, 4 mm; D, 5 mm; E: 7 mm; F, 1.2 mm. Photo D by G. Paulay.