Some Additions to our Knowledge of the New Zealand Holothurians.

Abstract

The following pages contain an account of a collection of Holothurians brought from New Zealand by one of us some years ago, and may be regarded as a continuation of the " Observations on the Holothurians of New Zealand " published in the Linnean Society's Journal (Zoology) in 1897 (vol. xxvi. p. 22). Since that date only three species have been added to this section of the New-Zealand fauna, viz. Cucumaria Filholi, PliyllopJiorus anatinus, and Caudina pulchella, all of which are described by Professor Remy Perrier in his memoir on the Antarctic Holothurians of the Natural History Museum of Paris *. It appears to us, however, to be very doubtful whether these three species can be maintained, and we incline to the belief that they are synonymous respectively with Cucumaria alba (Hutton), Pliyllopliorus longidentis (Hutton), and Caudina coriacea (Hutton). This question, however, need not be discussed at present.We may also note in this place that a previously doubtful species of Hutton, Cucumaria turhinata, has been re-examined, from the type specimen, by Herdman and Pearson, and has been recorded from Ceylon. Pearson describes and figures the species in his paper on the Ceylon Holothurians f.In this paper we venture to propose no less than six new species, viz., Stichopus simidans, Pliyllopliorus dearmatus, P seudocucumis hicolumnatus, Chirodota gigas, Chirodota geminifera, and Rliabdomolgus novce-zealandice ; while Holotliuria difficilis, Semper, is recorded from Norfolk Island. Of these by far the most remarkable is Rliabdomolgus 7iova;-zealandice. A description of this species was actually prepared by one of us in 1896, based on a single specimen, but was not published at the time because it was thought that the absence of spicules, characteristic of the genus Rliabdomolgus, might be due in the case of our specimen to the solvent action of the formalin in which the specimen was preserved. An experiment made on the spicules of Chirodota dunedinensis showed that the spicules of that species were dissolved in formalin (probably owing to the decomposition of the latter) ; therefore it was considered unsafe to rely upon formalin material, * Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie, 1905, p. 1. t Herdman's Pearl-Oyster Reports, Supp. No. 6, 1903

The phyllophorid sea cucumbers of southern Australia (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida: Phyllophoridae)

“…L. Clark 1938 referred Phyllophorus dearmatus Dendy and Hindle, 1907 to his new genus Lipotrapeza with considerable reservation, based on the entirely different calcareous ring. In the same year Deichmann erected the genus Neothyonidium to which Heding and Panning 1954 subsequently referred Phyllophorus dearmatus.…”

“…A second Thyone Oken, 1815 species occurring in the rocky shallows of southern Australia has been mistakenly identified as the New South Wales (Port Jackson) species Thyone okeni Bell, 1884. And Joshua (1914 and Hickman (1978) mistakenly identified specimens from southeast Australia as the New Zealand species Neothyonidium dearmatum (Dendy and Hindle, 1907). Thus at the time of writing six phyllophorid species have been reported for southern Australian waters, two with mistaken identities.…”

“…The distinguishing combination of diagnostic characters for Massinium vimsi O'Loughlin is given in the key (above). Dendy and Hindle, 1907).…”

“…-Heding and Panning, 1954: 191-192 Neothyonidium dearmatum (Dendy and Hindle, 1907) Diagnosis. Massinium species up to 110 mm long, up to 40 mm diameter (preserved, tentacles withdrawn), wide orally, tapered to rounded end anally, thin firm body wall; exterior anal scales not detected; 20 tentacles, 5 outer pairs large, 5 inner pairs small; complete cover of tube feet, single series of close tube feet on each side of longitudinal muscle interior attachment, scattered inter-radially, across introvert in irregular paired radial series, diameters up to 0.4 mm; white leathery tubular composite calcareous ring up to 50 mm long; radials with anterior taper and notch, posterior notch; inter-radials tapered to anterior point, posterior inter-radial indentation closed by continuous band of small plates to create oblong non-calcareous space; 1-2 tubular polian vesicles, as long and longer than calcareous ring; long thin stone canal with globular madreporite attached by mesentery to pharynx; cylindrical longitudinal muscles, not divided; gonad tubules long thin.…”

New cucumariid species from southern Australia (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida: Cucumariidae)

“…Pawson (1962) erected the monotypic genus Neocucumella for the New Zealand species Pseudocucumis bicolumnatus Dendy andHindle, 1907. O'Loughlin andO'Hara (1992) added Neocucumella fracta for SE Australia, and discussed the generic diagnosis.…”