Rhopalaea crassa ( Herdman, 1880 )

Lambert, Gretchen, Lee, Serina Siew-Chen & Teo, Serena Lay-Ming, 2021, Ascidians collected during the 2013 Singapore Strait International Marine Biodiversity Workshop, Zootaxa 4933 (1), pp. 1-38 : 3

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4933.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:56476487-ABC9-4C1C-A73F-D39E55DB9005
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4547852
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/BB593765-FFAB-E733-FF6C-FE52FD1BFC9D
treatment provided by	Plazi (2021-02-18 07:13:21, last updated 2024-11-29 10:16:15)
scientific name	Rhopalaea crassa ( Herdman, 1880 )
status

Treatment

Rhopalaea crassa ( Herdman, 1880)

Figure 1B View FIGURE 1

#0150, one; #1191B, thorax only; #1226; #3786, three; #4617, one, 5.3 cm in length.

This species is always solitary, the thorax yellow, with the abdomen embedded in crevices or coral rubble and with only the thorax protruding in its thick opaque bright yellow tunic. Thus collected specimens are often broken off at the narrow neck between thorax and abdomen and only the thorax is collected.

Widely distributed in the tropical west Pacific including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Guam.

Detailed descriptions with illustrations: Monniot C. (1997b), Monniot F. & Monniot C. (2001), Lee et al. (2013). Other references: Van Name (1918), Millar (1975), Kott & Goodbody (1982), Kott (1990, part; 1992), Nishikawa (1991), Lambert (2003), Lee et al. (2016).

References

Herdman, W. A. (1880) Preliminary report on the Tunicata of the Challenger expedition. Part 2. Proceedings of the Royal Society Edinburgh, 10 (2), 714 - 726. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0370164600044606

Kott, P. & Goodbody, I. (1982) The ascidians of Hong Kong. In: Morton, B. S. & Tseng, C. K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the First International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Hong Kong and Southern China, Hong Kong, 1980. University Press, Hong Kong, pp. 503 - 554.

Kott, P (1990) The Australian Ascidiacea part 2, Aplousobranchia (1) and Supplement: Phlebobranchia and Stolidobranchia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 29, 1 - 266.

Lambert, G. (2003) Marine biodiversity of Guam: the Ascidiacea. Micronesica, 35 - 36, 588 - 597.

Lee, S. S. - C., Teo, S. L. - M. & Lambert, G. (2013) New records of solitary ascidians on artificial structures in Singapore waters. Marine Biodiversity Records, 6, 1 - 18. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 1755267213000638

Lee, S. S. - C., Chan, J. Y-H., Teo, S. L. - M. & Lambert, G. (2016) State of knowledge of ascidian diversity in South China Sea and new records for Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 34, 718 - 743.

Millar, R. H. (1975) Ascidians from the Indo-West-Pacific region in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen (Tunicata, Ascidiacea). Steenstrupia, 3, 205 - 336.

Nishikawa, T. (1991) The ascidians of the Japan Sea. II. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 35, 25 - 170. https: // doi. org / 10.5134 / 176172

Van Name, W. G. (1918) Ascidians from the Philippines and adjacent waters. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 100, 49 - 174.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A: Clavelina moluccensis; B: Rhopalaea crassa 5.3 cm in length; C–G, Rhopalaea macrothorax. C: entire zooid, 6.5 cm in length; D: anterior thorax showing muscle pattern and siphons; E: abdomen with stomach at the upper right, large gonad on the left in the intestinal loop; F: clutch of 23 immature amphipods (Leucothoe sp.) with adult in branchial sac; G: adult amphipod, closeup, 5.5 mm in length. Scale bars: A, 1.4 mm; E, 2 mm.