Cnemidocarpa areolata ( Heller, 1878 )

Kott, Patricia, 2006, Observations on non-didemnid ascidians from Australian waters (1), Journal of Natural History 40 (3 - 4), pp. 169-234 : 214

Cnemidocarpa areolata ( Heller, 1878)

Styela areolata Heller 1878, p 26 .

Cnemidocarpa areolata: Kott 1985, p 122 and synonymy; Monniot and Monniot 1984, p 577.

Cnemidocarpa irene: Nishikawa 1991, p 96 .

Distribution

Previously recorded (see Monniot and Monniot 1984; Kott 1985; Nishikawa 1991): Western Australia (Dampier Archipelago, Cape Jaubert, NW Cape, Port Hedland, Carnarvon, Shark Bay, Cockburn Sound, Albany); South Australia (Spencer Gulf); Victoria (Bass Strait); New South Wales (Port Hacking, Long Reef); Queensland (Moreton Bay, Capricorn Group, Low Isles); Northern Territory (Darwin); Palau Is, Philippines, Noumea, New Caledonia, Marianas Is, Japan, Fiji, South China Sea, Japan, Sri Lanka. New record: Queensland (18.845 ° S, 146.795 ° E, 26 m)

Remarks

Monniot and Monniot (1984) examined material from Heller’s type locality, Sri Lanka, and found it agreed with the type specimen of Styela areolata Heller, 1878 , in having a deeply curved gut loop and about 12 openings of the short vas deferens on the surface of the ovary. Nishikawa (1991) found three to four similar openings in some from Japan but never as many as the Sri Lanka specimens. As a consequence, these authors proposed that C. irene ( Hartmeyer, 1906) from Japan (with C. valborgi Hartmeyer, 1919 and C. irma Hartmeyer, 1927 from northwestern Australia as junior synonyms) was distinct from C. areolata Heller, 1878 from Sri Lanka. Specimens assigned to this species by Kott (1985) from Australian locations (Heron Is, Cockburn Sound, South Australia) have been reexamined together with specimens from Fiji and the South China Sea (see Kott 1981; Kott and Goodbody 1982). In all the specimens examined the general morphology is similar, the vas deferens of each gonad opens by a single simple opening on top of the oviducal opening and multiple openings were not detected.

Nevertheless in view of Nishikawa’s (1991) reports of openings of the male duct similar to those in the Sri Lanka specimen, albeit not so numerous, it appears that the openings of the male duct are sometimes subdivided in this species. At this stage, it appears that such subdivision may be the result of intra-specific variation rather than an indication of speciation.