Pycnoclavella stanleyi Berrill & Abbott, 1949

Lambert, Gretchen, 2019, The Ascidiacea collected during the 2017 British Columbia Hakai MarineGEO BioBlitz, Zootaxa 4657 (3), pp. 401-436 : 416

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4657.3.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:86DD93B2-E8F4-4174-B105-9436357CB4B6
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5941195
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6A2E3761-A93D-FFCA-1390-FD1EDD51FA58
treatment provided by	Plazi (2019-08-20 06:55:10, last updated 2024-11-29 11:27:52)
scientific name	Pycnoclavella stanleyi Berrill & Abbott, 1949
status

Treatment

Figure 9 View FIGURE 9 B–D

IHAK 15 BHAK 1008 Calvert Island, headland between Sixth and Seventh Beach. A dominant member of a low intertidal tide pool.

RHAK 6 BHAK 0634 UF 2485. Seventh Beach, north wall, low intertidal tide pool. May be the same tidepool as IHAK 15 but sampled on a different day. One colony with completely encrusted and embedded grey sand in many small narrow heads; clumps with Eudistoma ritteri , Aplidium kottae and A. californicum .

ZHAK 35 BHAK 3252 UF 2570. Sasquatch Commode tidepool, with Eudistoma ritteri and Metandrocarpa taylori Huntsman, 1912 .

Bright yellow or orange tiny thoraxes emerge independently from a base in which the elongate abdomens are embedded in a matrix encrusted and impregnated with sand, with a maximum zooid length of less than 2 cm. The zooids, though tightly packed together, are actually independently covered by their own tunic and only share a common tunic at the base, as figured by Trason (1963). Each thorax has seven rows of stigmata, easily visible in the enlargement of part of a colony in Fig. 9B View FIGURE 9 , photographed underwater in situ by G. Paulay. There may be some yellow or orange pigment on the abdomens ( Trason 1963), or pigment may be occasionally lacking and the zooids including thoraxes are colorless and transparent, as pictured in Lamb & Hanby (2005). A complete description is given by Berrill & Abbott (1949) and Trason (1963). Distribution: British Columbia to northern Mexico ( Lamb & Hanby 2005).

References

Berrill, N. J. & Abbott, D. P. (1949) The structure of the ascidian, Pycnoclavella stanleyi n. sp., and the nature of its tadpole larva. Canadian Journal of Research, 27, 43 - 49. https: // doi. org / 10.1139 / cjr 49 d- 00 6

Lamb, A. & Hanby, B. P. (2005) Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest - A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds and Selected Fishes. Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, BC., 398 pp.

Trason, W. B. (1963) The life cycle and affinities of the colonial ascidian Pycnoclavella stanleyi. University of California Pub- lications in Zoology, 65 (4), 283 - 326.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Aplousobranchia. A–D: Clavelinidae. A: Clavelina huntsmani. B–D: Pycnoclavella stanleyi. B: expanded orange thoraxes extended beyond sandy tubes. C: thoraxes partially contracted. Photo includes four zooids of orange Metandrocarpa taylori. D: zooids fully contracted; only a bit of orange is visible. E, F: Euherdmaniidae, Euherdmania claviformis. E: zooids fully retracted into long sand-encrusted tubes. F: In this colony the anterior portions of the tubes not sand-encrusted, though the colorless zooid thoraxes are partially contracted. Scale bars: A, 7 mm; B, 2 mm; C, 4 mm; D, 1 cm; E, 1.2 cm; F, 1 cm. A, B, D, F photos by G. Paulay.