PRUVOTINIDAE Heath, 1911

Pedrouzo, Lucía, Cobo, M. Carmen, García-Álvarez, Óscar, Rueda, José L., Gofas, Serge & Urgorri, Victoriano, 2014, Solenogastres (Mollusca) from expeditions off the South Iberian Peninsula, with the description of a new species, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 48 (45 - 48), pp. 2985-3006 : 2992-2994

Family PRUVOTINIDAE Heath, 1911

Subfamily UNCIHERPIINAE Garcia-Alvarez, Salvini-Plawen and Urgorri, 2001 Genus Unciherpia Garcia-Alvarez, Salvini-Plawen and Urgorri, 2001 Unciherpia hirsuta Garcia-Alvarez, Salvini-Plawen and Urgorri, 2001

( Figure 2A, B )

Material examined

Six specimens. One specimen cut in serial sections. Alborán Sea (DEEPER 0409), 349–365 m depth ( Table 1).

Distribution

Type locality. Galician Bank (NW Iberian Peninsula). Further records: NW Iberian Peninsula ( García-Álvarez and Salvini-Plawen 2007; 2013 letter from M. Zamarro to Lucía Pedrouzo; unreferenced) and Alborán Sea (this report). 349–1499 m depth.

Description

Body 6.41–13.5 mm long with an anterior part (0.9–1.6 mm) wider than the posterior one (0.6–0.8 mm), without keels or lumps ( Figure 2A, B ). Cuticle 20–50 μm thick, with epidermal papillae on the base. Hollow sclerites arranged in a layer and clearly protruding from the cuticular surface. Five types: acicular, straight and long with a harpoon-shaped distal end (360–520 μm long; 8–14 μm wide); sclerites with a hookshaped distal end, with a sharp tip on the hook curve and a curved proximal end (110–180 μm long; 7–9 μm wide); acicular sigmoid sclerites (120–160 μm long; 5–7 μm wide); acicular and slightly arched sclerites with a flattened distal end, serrated in their convex margin with 6–9 teeth (230–300 μm long; 8–10 μm wide) only in the anterior half of the body and knife-shaped scales associated to the pedal groove (75–90 μm long; 12–14 μm wide). Sixteen circumpharyngeal follicular glands with a bubbly appearance, typical of the species, were observed in the medial region of the pharynx.

Taxonomic remarks

The specimens found in this study could unambiguously be assigned to U. hirsuta and our analyses corroborate the earlier findings by Garcia-Alvarez et al. (2001). Here, we extend the distribution of the species into the Mediterranean Sea.

Habitat and associated fauna

Unciherpia hirsuta was first described from an area with abundant madreporarian Madrepora oculata (Linnaeus) on the Galician Bank (NW Iberian Peninsula) at 760–769 m depth (García-Álvarez et al. 2001) and later found in the same region on different bottoms (muddy sand, stones, corals, clay and nodules) at 579–1499 m depth (2013 letter from M. Zamarro to Lucía Pedrouzo; unreferenced). The specimens studied come from the area surrounding the seamount Avempace (Alborán Sea) at 349–365 m depth, which is a seafloor of bioclastic gravel, where the crinoid Leptometra phalangium is the most abundant species, followed by the bivalve Limopsis aurita (Brocchi) and the polychaete Hyalinoecia tubicola (Müller) .

Figures

Figure 2. (A, B) Unciherpia hirsuta (habitus); (C–E) Anamenia gorgonophila (habitus), (C) on Eunicella filliformis.