Plumarella superba ( Nutting, 1912 )

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

Plumarella superba ( Nutting, 1912)

Primnodendron superbum Nutting, 1912: 71–72 , pl. 9, fig. 2, 2a; pl. 19, fig. 4

Thouarella (Amphilaphis) superba Kükenthal 1919: 412 ; 1924: 291

Thouarella superba Dautova 2007: 299 (sample not seen)

Thouarella (Thouarella) superba Cairns & Bayer 2009: 28 (listed); Heifetz et al. 2005: 133 (listed)

Plumarella superba Cairns 2011: 13–14 , figs 2C, 9a–l

Material examined: Holotype, USNM 50150, R/ V Albatross, Northwestern Pacific Expedition , sta. 4778, Semisopochini Island , western Aleutian Islands, North Pacific, 78–133 m, 5 Jun 1906.

Description

See full description in Cairns (2011).

Distribution

This species occurs in the Aleutian Islands , possibly to the western boreal Pacific, Sakhalin Island ( Dautova 2007) at depths from 29–133 m.

Remarks

The gross morphology of the colony is dichotomously uniplanar, with clear dorsal and ventral faces. The branches have branchlets on all sides in a bottlebrush arrangement, however, ventral and dorsal branchlets are much shorter than lateral branchlets.

The lack of a keel on the inner surface of the marginals suggests that this species is a Plumarella , as the genus description of Plumarella is now known to include bottlebrush colonies and specifically species with a smooth inner marginal surface, i.e. unkeeled ( Cairns, 2010).