Didemnum membranaceum Sluiter, 1909

Kott, Patricia, 2007, New and little-known species of Didemnidae (Ascidiacea, Tunicata) from Australia (part 4), Journal of Natural History 41 (17 - 20), pp. 1163-1211 : 1185

Didemnum membranaceum Sluiter, 1909

( Figure 9A ) Didemnum membranaceum Sluiter 1909, p 58 ; Kott 2001, p 205 and synonymy; 2002, p 36

and synonymy including Diplosomoides [sic] membranaceum: Kott 2002 ; 2004c, p 56 and

synonymy.

Distribution

Previously recorded (see Kott 2004c): Western Australia ( Montebello Is , Houtman’s Abrolhos , Dongara , Shark Bay , Cockburn Sound ); Queensland ( Moreton Bay , Caloundra , Great Barrier Reef ); Western Pacific ( Timor Sea , Andaman Is , Indonesia, Micronesia, French Polynesia, Hong Kong). New records: Queensland (Northern Great Barrier Reef: 17.855 ° S, 146.585 ° E, 43 m, QM G308868 ; 14.685 ° S, 145.535 ° E, 27.3 m, QM G308854 ) .

Description

Sheet-like encrusting colonies have characteristic spicules crowded throughout, only about six stigmata per row in the small thoraces, a short retractor muscle, a short branchial siphon and a wide, open atrial aperture.

Figures

Figure 9. Scanning electron micrographs. (A) Didemnum membranceum (QM G308854); (B) Didemnum microthoracium (SAM E3259); (C) Didemnum moseleyi (QM G308866); (D) Didemnum parau (QM G308859); (E) Didemnum patulum (QM G308769); (F) Didemnum pellucidum (QM G308886); (G) Didemnum perplexum (QM G308860); (H) Didemnum psammatode (QM G308879).