Caenopedina otagoensis McKnight, 1968

Anderson, Owen F., 2009, The giant purple pedinid — a new species of Caenopedina (Echinodermata: Echinoidea: Pedinidae) from New Zealand and Australia, Zootaxa 2007, pp. 43-57 : 53

Caenopedina otagoensis McKnight, 1968

Caenopedina otagoensis McKnight, 1968 , 90–94, figs 1–3.

Material examined: Southern Kermadec Ridge: 1 specimen (28 mm TD), 34°05.4'S, 179°33.6'E, 1930 m, NIWA 4653. Bay of Plenty: 2 specimens (11, 12 mm TD), 36°55.2'S, 177°20'E, 1534 m, NIWA 6624. North Island, east coast: 1 specimen (13 mm TD), 39°27'S, 179°54.6'E, 2182 m, NIWA 6625. South Island, west coast: 1 specimen (20 mm TD), 42°43.2'S, 168°42'E, 1256 m, NIWA 34853. Macquarie Ridge: 1 specimen (19 mm TD), 48°31.8'S, 164°56.4'E, 1364 m, NIWA 39637, 7 specimens (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13, 14 mm TD), 48°33'S, 164°57.6'E, 1327 m, NIWA 39561. Tasmania: 1 specimen, J1 Seamount, 44°14.4'S, 147°21.6'E, 1200 m, CSIRO SS 01/97 40, NMV F165584.

Remarks: Females of this species are readily distinguished from other species of Caenopedina by their multiple (3–6) genital pores, whereas in other species there is usually only a single pore. Otherwise, the identification of this species can be confirmed by its unbanded reddish-brown spines, dark purple apical system, black pigmented globiferous pedicellaria glands, and genital plate tuberculation pattern. Previously recorded from the Chatham Rise and the east coast of the South Island, these records confirm its existence also on the west coast of the South Island, further north as far as the southern Kermadec Ridge (34°06'S), south to the northern Macquarie Ridge (48°30'S), and west to a seamount west of Tasmania (147°21.6'E).