Plumarella bayeri ( Zapata-Guardiola and López-González, 2010b ) TAYLOR & CAIRNS & AGNEW & ROGERS, 2013

TAYLOR, M. L., CAIRNS, S. D., AGNEW, D. J. & ROGERS, A. D., 2013, <strong> A revision of the genus <em> Thouarella </ em> Gray, 1870 (Octocorallia: Primnoidae), including an illustrated dichotomous key, a new species description, and comments on <em> Plumarella </ em> Gray, 1870 and <em> Dasystenella </ em>, Versluys, 1906 </ strong>, Zootaxa 3602 (1), pp. 1-105 : 98-99

Plumarella bayeri ( Zapata-Guardiola and López-González, 2010b) , new combination

Thouarella bayeri Zapata-Guardiola & López-González, 2010b: 133–135 , figs 2a,b, 3, 4.

Material examined: Paratype, USNM 1123419, details same as holotype, R/ V Polarstern, ANT XIX/5, sta. PS61/ 164–01, west South Georgia Island, sub-Antarctic, 53°23.80’S, 42º42.03’W, 312.5–321.6 m, 9 Apr 2002 .

Description

Fully described in Zapata-Guardiola and López-González (2010b). Distribution

This species is currently known only from the west coast of South Georgia Island, at depths from 306–342 m.

Remarks

The marginals of the polyps of Thouarella bayeri are unkeeled (they have a long spine that is circular in cross section, and have longitudinal grooves on the inner surface), which suggests that the species should not be considered a Thouarella but a Plumarella . The diagnosis of Plumarella has expanded to include colonies with bottlebrush branches, such as P. superba ( Cairns, 2011) , making T. bayeri more suitably classified as Plumarella .

Apart from the colony shape, P. bayeri is identical to P. diadema , which is bottlebrush (although it can appear bilateral).