Actinopyga bannwarthi Panning, 1944

THANDAR, AHMED S., 2007, Additions to the aspidochirotid, molpadid and apodid holothuroids (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from the east coast of southern Africa, with descriptions of new species, Zootaxa 1414 (1), pp. 1-62 : 9-10

Actinopyga bannwarthi Panning, 1944

Figure 2

Actinopyga serratidens bannwarthi Panning, 1944:53 , fig.22.

Actinopyga bannwarthi Cherbonnier 1988:15 , fig.1 (synonymy).

Actinopyga banwarthi (sic) Rowe & Gates, 1995:286.

Type Syntypes, ZMH E.5902 .

Type locality Suez, Red Sea.

Previous southern African record None.

Material examined UW Ecological Survey , Inhaca Island, Mozambique, NB 108D, 12 i 1959, 2 spec.

Local distribution Inhaca Island only.

General distribution West Australia and West Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea.

Remarks

This is a first record of this species from Mozambique but it has yet to be recorded from South Africa. It is well described by Cherbonnier (1988), based on material from Madagascar. The two specimens at hand measure 135 x 44 mm and 143 x 50 mm. They are dark chocolate brown dorsally, paler ventrally. The podia are all minute but ventrally crowded. The mouth is antero-ventral, the anus terminal, with concealed anal teeth. The Polian vesicle is terminally sacciform, the stone canal convoluted, lodged in the dorsal mesentery and the madreporic body pyriform. Cuvierian tubules are absent. Spicules of the body wall comprise mostly spiny rosette-like rods and rosettes: dorsal rods ( Figure 2A ) 26–85 µm, ventral rods ( Figure 2B ) 26–66 µm, dorsal rosettes 26–46 µm. Rods of dorsal podia 35–72 µm; rods of ventral podia ( Figure 2C ) 40–90 µm; tentacle rods ( Figure 2D ) 218–564 µm.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Actinopyga bannwarthi Panning, 1944. Inhaca. A. Rods from dorsal body wall; B. same from ventral body wall; C. podial rods; D. tentacle rods; E. part of calcareous ring. (A, B & C scale a)