Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Prata, Jéssica, Manso, Cynthia L. C. & Christoffersen, Martin L., 2014, Aspidochirotida (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from the northeast coast of Brazil, Zootaxa 3889 (1), pp. 127-150 : 142-143

Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Holothuria stellati dakarensis Panning, 1939 .

Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis .― Pawson & Shirley, 1977: 915; Prata et al., 2014: 2 .

Material examined. Diogo Lopes Beach, Macau, RN, Brazil, 1 spec. ( UFPB.ECH-2158).

Type locality. Dakar, Senegal ( Panning 1939).

Diagnosis and description. See Prata et al. (2014: 2).

Geographical distribution. United States (North Carolina, Georgia, Gulf of Mexico), Brazil (Rio Grande do Norte), Senegal, Angola ( Pawson et al. 2010; Prata et al. 2014), up to 14 m deep.

Comments. This is the only species of the subgenus recorded for the Western Atlantic. Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939 seems to form a species complex with Holothuria (H.) stellati Delle Chiaje, 1824 , Holothuria (H.) tubulosa Gmelin, 1791 , and Holothuria (H.) mammata Grube, 1840 . According to Borrero- Pérez et al. (2009), H. (H.) tubulosa , H. (H.) mammata , and H. (H.) dakarensis may represent valid species after their morphological and molecular analyses, but further studies are necessary to clarify the status of these species.

Ecological note. Buried in sand and algae.