Polycarpa pori, Monniot, 2002

Monniot, Claude, 2002, Stolidobranch ascidians from the tropical western Indian Ocean, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 135 (1), pp. 65-120 : 89

POLYCARPA PORI SP. NOV. ( Figs 14C , 19 )

Cnemidocarpa hemprichi , part: Michaelsen, 1919: 76 – Red Sea.

Material

Syntypes: MNHN S1 POL B 428, Red Sea: Marmar Island, coll. ‘ Calypso’ cruise .

Other material examined: Suez Canal: Great Bitter Lake, coll. F.D. Por.

Madagascar: Nosy-Be, 12 specimens, coll. R. Plante, 1968 .

Description

All the specimens from the Red Sea are the same. They are oval and measure 1.5–2 cm in length, without peduncle ( Fig. 14C ). The specimens from Madagascar measure 4–6 cm, the body being 2 cm in length; they were collected on a sedimentary bottom. In all cases, the tunic is very thick and corrugated, sometimes with some sediment, especially encrusted on the peduncle and its basal ramifications ( Fig. 14C ). The siphons are not protruding. The oral siphon is terminal, the cloacal siphon half-way down the dorsal side of the body.

Removed from the tunic, the body is ovoid. The siphons have a darker pigmentation than the remain- der of the opaque body.

The tentacles, in three orders, have a variable length in different specimens. There is a short oral velum. The prepharyngeal band has a dorsal V in which a dorsal tubercle opens anteriorly in a wide C. The dorsal lamina is low with a smooth edge.

The branchial sac has four well-spaced folds on each side. The branchial formula in a specimen from the Suez Canal is:

Figures

Figure 14. A, Polycarpa gradata sp. nov. holotype. B, Polycarpa plantei sp. nov. specimens from Madagascar. C, Polycarpa pori sp. nov. D, Pyura gangelion sp. nov.

Figure 19. Polycarpa pori sp. nov.: A, specimen from the Red Sea ventrally opened. B, specimen from Madagascar, endocarps on the left body side are not figured. Scale bars: A = 5 mm, B = 1 cm.