Lipotrapeza vestiens ( Joshua, 1914 )

O’Loughlin, P. Mark, Barmos, Shari & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2012, The phyllophorid sea cucumbers of southern Australia (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida: Phyllophoridae), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 69, pp. 269-308 : 275-278

Lipotrapeza vestiens ( Joshua, 1914)

Figures 4 , 5a , 6

Phyllophorus vestiens Joshua, 1914: 5 , pl. 1 fig. 2a–f.

Lipotrapeza vestiens .—H. L. Clark, 1938: 496–497.—H. L. Clark, 1946: 412.— Heding and Panning, 1954: 176, fig. 84 (from Joshua 1914).— Rowe, 1982: 462, pl. 31.2.— Rowe and Gates, 1995: 311.— Edgar, 1997: 369.—Gowlett-Holmes, 2008: 263.

Material examined. Holotype. Victoria, Torquay , NMV F45144 .

Paratypes. Torquay, NMV F45145 (1); slide of body wall, NMV F45146 (mounted body wall, 33 mm long, 20 mm wide, not from either type specimen, endplates and support rods only) .

Other material (selection). Victoria, Cape Conran , 2 Oct 1988, NMV F73832 (1) ; Walkerville south, Bear Gully , 7 Mar 1982, NMV F73838 (1) ; Cape Paterson Survey ( CPA), 1982, Petrel Rock, NMV F73823 (1) ; Shack Bay , NMV F73824 (1) ; Cape Paterson , NMV F73825 (1) ; Harmers Haven , NMV F73822 (1) ; Westernport Bay Survey by MRG , 1969–71, Merricks , NMV F45239 (3) ; 29 Oct 1980, NMV F75976 (many) ; 28 Jan 1983, NMV F73831 (2) ; Shoreham , NMV F73854 (1) ; Flinders , 26 Feb 1977, NMV F74235 (5) ; 10 Mar 1980, NMV F73830 (many) ; Port Phillip Bay, Beaumaris, Ricketts Point , 25 Apr 2008, NMV F157402 (1) ; Cheltenham beach after storm, 20 Jul 1891, NMV F73856 (6) ; Mordialloc beach, May 1897, NMV F73857 (4) ; Sandringham , Jul 25 1891, NMV F73858 (4; no. 60642–5; det. by Joshua 1914; det. as Phyllophorus ventripes by F. W. E. Rowe 1976) ; Kennett River , 29 Dec 1982, NMV F73827 (2) ; Marengo , 26 Mar 1977, NMV F73850 (2) ; Portland , MRG, 23 Feb 2007, NMV F125356 (1).

Tasmania. Bass Strait, Lulworth , 22 Nov 1982, NMV F174904 (13) ; North Head, mouth of Tamar River , 28 Aug 1978, NMV F97070 (1).

South Australia. Gulf St Vincent, Willunga Reef, 23 Nov 1976, SAM K2583 (1) ; Cape Jervis, 3–5 m, 22 Apr 2005, SAM K2590 (1, PK0296) ; S side of Kangaroo I., Hanson Bay , rocky shallows, 6 Mar 1978, AM J12559 (3) ; Whittlebee Point, 1 Mar 1975, SAM K2591 (4) ; Baird Bay , 27 Feb 1975, SAM K2596 (3).

Western Australia, Two Peoples Bay , 5 Dec 1968, WAM Z31964 (1) ; Cape Naturaliste , 31 Dec 1971, WAM Z31971 (1) ; Yanchep , 31°33'S 115°41'E, reef flat, 1959, WAM Z8994 (1).

Diagnosis. Up to 175 mm long, up to 35 mm diameter (preserved, tentacles withdrawn, largest WAM Z8994), cylindrical body with slight anal taper, thick soft body wall; external anal scales not detected; 20 tentacles, 5 outer pairs large, 5 inner pairs small; complete cover of close tube feet, not contiguous, sometimes more concentrated ventrally than dorsally, diameter about 0.7 mm, radial to scattered tube feet cross introvert; calcareous ring with 10 posterior composite tapering projections arising predominantly from radial plates but sometimes jointly from both radial and inter-radial plates, posterior ends free thin tails comprising small elongate plates, ring not tubular, posterior projections shorter than combined height of plates and anterior projections, form of plates and composite components variable; short stone canal, madreporite multi-lobed, close to vascular ring; up to 5 polian vesicles, variable sizes, frequently one; longitudinal muscles flat, longitudinal indentation along centre of muscle; gonad tubules arise in series along gonoduct on each side of dorsal mesentery, tubules not branched.

Mid-body wall lacking ossicles; tube foot ossicles endplates and support rods and narrow plates only; endplates with denticulate or smooth margin, irregular perforations similar size, endplate diameters up to 480 µ m; endplate support rods and narrow plates straight to curved, larger ossicles perforate and denticulate, up to 200 µ m long; tentacles with rods and rosettes, larger rods branched and denticulate distally, sometimes with small perforations, up to 160 µ m long, rosettes oval to irregular, up to 80 µ m long; peri-oral region with tentacle-like rods and rosettes; introvert with rosettes, fine rods up to 80 µ m long; anal ossicles tube foot endplates and support rods, tentacle-like rods, rosettes, 5 scales with base up to 320 µ m wide and digitiform column up to 360 µ m long, base and column comprising massed short branched rods.

Juveniles. For specimen 20 mm long tentacles 20; for specimen 10 mm long tube feet radial only; for specimen 15 mm long calcareous ring cucumariid-like, lacking posterior projections, not composite; for specimens 7 mm long and smaller, tables present in mid-body wall, discs regular and irregular with frequently 8 perforations, lobed margin, discs typically 72 µ m long, spires with 4 pillars, spires up to 64 µ m long.

Colour (preserved). Body pink-brown, dark brown orally and anally; tube feet off-white; large tentacle branches dark brown, trunks off-white, small tentacles off-white.

Distribution. Southern Australia, from E Victoria, Cape Conran, west to S Western Australia (Yanchep); rocky shallows, 0– 5 m.

Remarks. Cherbonnier 1988 referred five small specimens (up to 20 mm long) from Madagascar to Lipotrapeza ventripes ( Joshua and Creed, 1915) . As noted above and discussed below we make Lipotrapeza ventripes ( Joshua and Creed, 1915) a subjective junior synonym of Phyllostauros vercoi ( Joshua and Creed, 1915) . In his observations Cherbonnier 1988 based his referral of these specimens to Lipotrapeza ventripes on Clark 1938. We judge from their descriptive remarks that both authors are referring to Lipotrapeza vestiens ( Joshua, 1914) . The Madagascar specimens have the diagnostic characters of the presence of tentacle rods, the form of the calcareous ring, presence of tube foot endplates and support rods, and absence of ossicles in the mid-body wall that characterize Lipotrapeza vestiens . But Lipotrapeza vestiens specimens attain a much larger size (up to 175 mm long), have five distinct pairs of inner small tentacles (not two circles of five), do not normally have fewer dorsal than ventral tube feet, and lack the “pseudoplates” referred to by Cherbonnier 1988. We judge that the Madagascar specimens are not Lipotrapeza vestiens . Lipotrapeza vestiens ( Joshua, 1914) is distinguished from the other species of Lipotrapeza in the key (above).

Figures

Figure 4. Photos of preserved specimens of Lipotrapeza vestiens (Joshua, 1914). a, adult specimen with tentacles withdrawn, close cover of tube feet, paired series of tube feet along interior longitudinal muscle attachment (NMV F73830, 80 mm long); b, calcareous ring with posterior prolongations arising from both radial and inter-radial plates (NMV F73830); c, oral view of tentacle crown with inner and outer rings of 5 paired small and 5 paired large tentacles (NMV F75976); d, lateral view of bare introvert and tentacle crown showing outer paired large and inner paired small tentacles (NMV F73830); e, juvenile with radial paired series of tube feet (NMV F75976); f, juvenile cucumariid-like calcareous ring lacking posterior prolongations (NMV F75976).

Figure 5. Photos of live specimens. a juvenile of Lipotrapeza vestiens (Joshua, 1914) from Eagles Nest, coast of Victoria, with body wall tables and ventral tube feet only (3 mm long; photo by Leon Altoff); b, specimen of Thyone nigra Joshua and Creed, 1915 from McHaffie Reef, Westernport Bay, with calcareous ring eviscerated (NMV F151855, photo by John Eichler).

Figure 6. SEM images of ossicles from juvenile of Lipotrapeza vestiens (Joshua, 1914). Mid-body wall tables with 4-pillared spires, irregular discs with about 12 perforations, endplate with support rods (5 mm long, NMV F125356).