Molgula delicata Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1991
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5195.3.1 |
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publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:44C449B1-1536-40BE-AB30-4D728A90EC30 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7187828 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AD87CE-FF9C-AD66-FF26-FF369785E2F9 |
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treatment provided by |
Plazi |
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scientific name |
Molgula delicata Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1991 |
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Molgula delicata Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1991 View in CoL
Figure 18 View FIGURE 18
Station: SPANBIOS: DW 5176, 3 specimens.
The specimens, 4 to 5 cm in diameter, have a thin tunic heavily coated with sand and wearing thin and dense filaments resulting into a brittle shell. The ascidians were damaged during their collection. The siphon apertures are inconspicuous and close to each other ( Fig. 18B,C View FIGURE 18 ). The body wall is thin and transparent ( Fig. 18A,B View FIGURE 18 ). Longitudinal muscle ribbons starting from the apertures are short. They cross thinner circular fibres around the siphons ( Fig. 18A View FIGURE 18 ). Between the siphons, in the middle of the dorsal side of the body wall, an additional long transverse muscle fibre extends to both sides ( Fig. 18B,C View FIGURE 18 ). This peculiar muscle design was figured in Monniot C. & F. (1991, Fig. 34B). The oral tentacles are ramified but short. The prepharyngeal band is curved in a deep V ( Fig. 18C View FIGURE 18 ). The branchial tissue is thin with six folds on each side with very deep infundibula. Some extra infundibula can be seen between the folds. The gut forms a long loop ( Fig. 18A View FIGURE 18 ). The stomach has six longitudinal folds. The anus rim is smooth. There is one long sinuous gonad on each side ( Fig. 18A View FIGURE 18 ); the ovary is tubular with testis vesicles on each side. The ducts issuing from the testis vesicles join at the surface of the ovary to form a single canal erect with several papillae along its length (as figured in Monniot C. & F. 1991 Fig. 34C). The oval kidney lies at some distance posteriorly from the right gonad ( Fig. 18A View FIGURE 18 ).
Molgula delicata collected several times from New Caledonia between 500 and 800m depth (Monniot F. & Monniot C. 2003) is also present in New Zealand down to 1000m depth ( Sanamyan & Sanamyan, 1999) but has not been recorded elsewhere .
A copepod and an amphipod have been found inside the body.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.