Thouarella (Thouarella) variabilis Wright & Studer, 1889

Schejter, L., Genzano, G., Pérez, C. D., Acuña, F., Cordeiro, R. T. S., Silva, R. A., Garese, A. & Bremec, C. S., 2020, Checklist of Benthic Cnidaria in the SW Atlantic Ocean (54 ºS- 56 ºS), Zootaxa 4878 (2), pp. 201-239 : 224

Thouarella (Thouarella) variabilis Wright & Studer, 1889

Material examined: BBB 2016: St. 16; St. 18.

Distribution: Heard Island, 274 m, Prince Edward Island, 567 m, ( Wright & Studer 1889); Antarctic, 350– 385m ( Kükenthal 1919); Renaud Island, Biscoe Islands, Antarctic Peninsula (65˚30’S, 67˚31’W, 180 m; 76˚00’S, 55˚00’W, 457 m), Antipodes Island, New Zealand, (49˚51’S, 178˚35’E, 2010–2100 m) ( Taylor et al. 2013); Burdwood bank (607–1000 m) (present study).

Remarks: Synonyms: T. variabilis var. gracilis Wright & Studer, 1889 . Thouarella variabilis was addressed in a recent study, testing its potential in paleorecords for changes in environmental conditions ( Martinez-Dios et al. 2016). This species is one of the few Antarctic primnoids with some available ecological data in the literature. It was described in terms of its reproductive biology ( Brito et al. 1995) and had its feeding behavior related to resuspension processes ( Orejas et al. 2000). This is the first record of the species at Burdwood bank and at MPA Namuncurá II.