Didemnum galacteum Lotufo & Dias, 2007

Monniot, Françoise, 2016, Ascidians (Tunicata) of the French Guiana Expedition, Zootaxa 4114 (3), pp. 201-245 : 207

Didemnum galacteum Lotufo & Dias, 2007

Figure 4 B.

Station. SS6 and 1980 Guiana I. Royale (Monniot collection).

The colonies are thick crusts, brittle, with dense spicules made of blunt rays. The anatomical characters well correspond to the type description with a narrow atral opening without languet, a long oesophageal neck with a long thoracic muscular appendage. The sperm duct in 8–9 turns lies on 2 large testis lobes. The larva 0.65mm long has 3 adhesive papillae and 4 pairs of ampullae ( Fig. 4 B).

As noticed by Lotufo & Dias Didemnum species without atrial languet and 2 testis lobes are not common and only represented in the western Atlantic by D. galacteum and D. duplicatum .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Didemnid larvae stained with hemalum. A, Didemnum duplicatum; B, Didemnum galacteum; C, Didemnum psammathodes; D, Polysyncraton amethysteum. Scale bars: A = 0.5 mm; B = 0.3 mm; C = 0.2 mm; D = 0.4 mm.