Cucumaria solangeae, Martins, Luciana & Souto, Camilla, 2015

Martins, Luciana & Souto, Camilla, 2015, Taxonomic review of four western Atlantic dendrochirotids (Holothuroidea) with the description of a new Brazilian cucumariid species and designation of neotypes, Zootaxa 3919 (2), pp. 362-374 : 370-373

Cucumaria solangeae sp. nov.

( Figures 7–8 )

Type material. Holotype: Pituba beach, Salvador, BA, Brazil (13°00’ S; 38°27’ W): intertidal, 1 February 1994, 4 cm length ( UFBA 650). Paratypes: same locality and date as Holotype, 8 spms 2–4 cm long ( UFBA 1750; MZUSP 286–290; ZUEC HOL 21– 22).

Diagnosis. Body fusiform. Tube feet arranged in double rows restricted to the ambulacral region. Ten tentacles, ventral-most pair smaller. Calcareous ring compact and simple, lacking posterior processes; plates laterally united at the base. Deposits: body wall with knobbed buttons; introvert and tentacles with rods; tube feet with endplate and supporting rods; anal region with plates.

Etymology. Named after Dr. Solange Peixinho (in memorian), in recognition of her dedication and contribution to the taxonomy of marine invertebrates, and for collecting the specimens described herein.

Description. Body fusiform, tapering to the posterior end ( Fig. 7 A), maximum length 4 cm. Tube feet arranged in double rows restricted to the ambulacral region, although a few scattered tube feet may also be present. Ten tentacles, ventral-most pair smaller ( Fig. 7 B). Anal region with five thin papillae ( Fig. 7 C) and calcareous teeth. Calcareous ring compact and simple, lacking posterior processes ( Fig. 7 D–E). Radial plates broad at the base and tapering at the anterior region (we tried to remove the tissue to look if there really is a bifurcation at the apex but the radials were too fragile and disintegrated). Interradial plates curved at the base and tapering at the anterior region. Radial and interradial plates of same height and laterally united at the base. Coloration in ethanol: body light brown, tentacles dark purple, tube feet brown. Details of the internal morphology could not be observed because of the poor conservation of the specimens.

Deposits: body wall with four-holed (rarely five-holed) buttons (70–120 µm) ( Fig. 8 A). Introvert and tentacles with arched rods with one perforation at each extremity and two in the middle (150–180 µm) ( Fig. 8 B). Tube feet with endplate (200–400 µm) and supporting rods with small perforations at the extremities and an enlarged central region with a large perforation ( Fig. 8 C) (140–160 µm). Anal region with two-layered perforated plates (300–400 µm) ( Fig. 8 D), (300–400 µm), elongated and knobbed perforated plates ( Fig. 8 E), and perforated plates with irregular margins (400–600 µm) ( Fig. 8 F).

Type locality. Pituba beach, Salvador – BA, Brazil.

Biological notes. Specimens collected under rocks.

Remarks. Cucumaria solangeae sp. nov. is the first record of the genus in Brazil, and differs from the five other valid Atlantic species [ C. frondosa ( Gunnerus 1767) , C. georgiana Lampert 1886 , C. arcuata ( Herouard 1921) , C. parassimilis Deichmann 1930 , and C. acuta Massin 1992 ] by the presence of knobbed buttons in its body wall. Some previously described Cucumaria species with knobbed buttons have been transferred to other genera; however, we place C. solangeae sp. nov. in this genus because of the combination of characters (i.e. arrangement of tube feet, morphology of the calcareous ring, shape of plates, absence of cups on body wall).

Other congeners with knobbed buttons are Cucumaria crax Deichmann 1941 and Cucumaria flamma Solís- Marín & Laguarda-Figueras 1999, from the Pacific coast of Mexico; however, their buttons are rudimentary (i.e.

reduced knobbed edges) and these species have tentacles of the same size (vs. ventral-most two smaller in C. solangeae sp. nov.). The species Cucumaria compressa ( Perrier 1898) from the northeastern Atlantic and Cucumaria vicaria Sluiter 1910 from the northwestern Atlantic have cups in the body wall and should not be classified within the subfamily Cucumariinae . According to the classification proposed by Smirnov (2012), these species should be Colochirinae.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Cucumaria solangeae sp. nov. — Holotype (UFBA 650): (A) lateral view of body; (B) top view of dendritic tentacles, showing two large tentacles on the right and the ventral-most two smaller tentacles on the left; (C) anal papillae; and (D) drawing of calcareous ring. Paratype (ZUEC HOL 21): (E) calcareous ring. Scale bars: A, 2 cm; B, C, 1 cm; E, 1.5 mm.

FIGURE 8. Holotype of Cucumaria solangeae sp. nov. (UFBA 650): SEM images of the ossicles— (A) buttons from body wall; (B) rods from introvert and tentacles; (C) supporting rods from tube feet; (D – F) plates from anal region. Scale bars: A – C, 50 µm; D – F, 100 µm.