Molpadiodemas epibiotus, O'Loughlin & Ahearn, 2005

O'Loughlin, P. Mark & Ahearn, Cynthia, 2005, A review of pygal-furrowed Synallactidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), with new species from the Antarctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2), pp. 147-179 : 159-160

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.5

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/116087F5-FFA4-FFED-FF3D-7F25FEF21D69

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Molpadiodemas epibiotus
status

sp. nov.

Molpadiodemas epibiotus View in CoL sp. nov.

Figures 3i–k View Figure 3 , 4m –p View Figure 4

Material examined. Holotype. North Atlantic Ocean , Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Cayman Trench, 19°39'N, 76°17'W, 6195–6320 m, RV Gilliss, stn GS-121, 21 Jul 1975, USNM 1008183 About USNM . GoogleMaps

Paratypes. Type locality and date, USNM 1008310 About USNM (4) ; NMV

F101862 (1).

Description. Up to 125 mm long; body strongly tapered posteriorly, dorsoventrally depressed, low convex dorsally, flat ventrally; thin brim anteriorly around mouth, variably developed laterally, posteriorly; all specimens with anterior large concave depression suggesting epibiote attachment, some smaller depressions mid-body; body wall firm, thin, soft, semi-gelatinous, embedded with white granules, surface wrinkled, additionally pustulose ventrally; complete cover of small tube feet, translucent and merged into body wall dorsally; lateroventral tube feet in widely spaced band, sparse, subglobular, up to 0.5 mm long, 0.25 mm diameter, some with dark red markings; ventral tube feet closer, smaller, some with red markings, not extended, 0.2 mm diameter as domes; ossicles in tentacles only, abundant, variable, rods, thick to thin, lumpy to smooth to bluntly spinous, with or lacking swelling in mid-rod, limited branching at ends, some branches fused to create perforations, ossicles up to 300 Μm long.

Colour. Dorsally off-white to greyish-white; ventrally reddish-brown around mouth, dark red flecking on surface and on some tube feet.

Etymology. From the Greek epi (upon) and bios (life), referring to the evidence for epibiotic attachments on all specimens.

Distribution. North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Cayman Trench, 6195–6320 m,

Remarks. Amongst Molpadiodemas species, the distinguishing characters of M. epibiotus are: distinctly posteriorly tapered body; dorsoventral depression of the body; presence of a thin brim anteriorly; presence of anterior concavities from epibiotes; fine dark red markings ventrally on the body surface and tube feet.

Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF