Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908

Yves, 2003, The holothurian subgenus Mertensiothuria (Aspidochirotida: Holothuriidae) revisited, Journal of Natural History 37, pp. 2487-2519 : 2496-2497

Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908

Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908: 17 , pl. 1, figures 11–15; Panning, 1935d: 8, figure 112.

Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) exilis: Rowe, 1969: 149 .

Holothuria (Stauropora) pervicax: Samyn et al., 2001: 104 .

Original name. Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908 .

Name-bearing type. Holotype, IM 5618 /6.

Type locality. India (Andaman Isles) .

Current status. Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908 .

Material examined. None.

Description. See Koehler and Vaney, 1908: 17, pl. 1, figures 11–15.

Diagnosis. See Koehler and Vaney, 1908: 17, pl. 1, figures 11–15.

Ecology. Unknown.

Geographical distribution. Only known from the type locality.

Proposed status. Holothuria exilis Koehler and Vaney, 1908 .

Comments. In their description, Koehler and Vaney (1908) already noted that H. exilis is very close to H. pervicax Selenka, 1867 . In his review of the Holothuriidae Rowe (1969) noted that H. exilis ‘will prove to be conspecific with H. pervicax Selenka, 1867 ’ [sic]. After re-examination of the type material of H. pervicax, Rowe (in Rowe and Gates, 1995) placed H. pervicax in the subgenus Stauropora . The type material of H. exilis is held in the Museum of Calcutta, but is in poor condition (Haldar, personal communication) and can only be examined on site. Although there are some presumptions that H. exilis is a junior synonym of H. pervicax and may therefore be referable to Stauropora , we will provisionally not allocate H. exilis to a given subgenus. Only a careful, on-site study of the type material will allow the matter to be settled.