Memoirs of the Museum of Vicloria 53(2): 227-266 (1992) 31 December 1992 https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.1992.53.12 NEW CUCUMARI1D HOLOTHURIANS (ECHINODERMATA) FROM SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, INCLUDING TWO BROODING AND ONE FISSIPAROUS SPECIES By P. Mark OLoughlin and Timothy D. OHara Department of Invertebrate Zoology. Museum of Victoria, Melbourne. Victoria 3000, Australia Abstract O'Loughlin, P.M. and O'Hara, T.D., 1992. New cucumariid holothurians (Echinoder- mata) from southern Australia, including two brooding and one fissiparous species. Memoirs of the Museum of Vicloria 53: 227-266. Twelve new species of cucumariid holothurians are described from oft' the coast of southern Australia. Pemoams gen. nov. is erected for one species which has no intcrradial plates in the calcareous ring. Cucuvitrum gen. nov. (1 species). Squamocnus gen. nov. (1 species) and Apsolidiuin gen. nov. (3 species) are erected for species with combinations of body and ossicle form not represented in known genera. The other species are assigned to Neocnus, Trachythyone (2 species). Ocnus. Ncocucumis and Ncocucumella. The new species of Pcntocnus and Neocnus brood their young. The new species of Squamocnus is fissiparous. The new species of Cucuviirum is host to a copepod parasite (Cucumaricolidae). Introduction Joshua (1914) recorded the Indo-Pacific cucu- Southern Australian holothurians are known mariid Plesiocolochints spinosus (Quoy and mainlv from the works of Ludwig (1874), Bell Gaimard, 1833) from "Victorian waters". The (1887), Joshua (1912. 1914), Joshua and Creed ill-defined locality data with the specimens in (1915), Erwe (1913). H.L. Clark (1914, 1938, the Museum of Victoria create doubt about its 1946). Hickman (1962, 1978), A.M. Clark occurrence in the region. (1966), Rowe (1976, 1982) and Rowe and Vail Joshua (1914) and Joshua and Creed (1915) (1982). Including those described herein. 23 recorded from southern Australia the New Zeal- cucumariid species are now known from the and species Pseudocucumis (=Neocucumella) Australian states of Victoria, Tasmania, South bicolumnatus (Dendy and Hindle, 1907). the Australia and from the south-west of Western South American species Cucumaria (=Neopsol- Australia (Table 1 ). Of these, 5 are abundant and idium) convergens (Herouard, 1901), and the well known for the region: Psolicliella adhaerens subantarctic species Cucumaria (=Trachy- Hickman, 1 962, Staurothyone inconspicua (Bell. thyone) squamata (Ludwig, 1 898). Rowe ( 1 982) 1887), Pentacta ignava (Ludwig, 1874), Cucu- recorded Ocnus calcareus (Dendy, 1896) from mella mutatis (Joshua, 1914) and Neoamphicyc- off south-western Australia. This material has lus tividus Hickman. 1962. These have been been re-examined by us and in all four cases has described in detail by Hickman (1962) (P. been assigned to new species. H.L. Clark (1946: ignava as P. austraiis), and current distribution 389) proposed the name Cucumaria squama- and habitat notes given by one of the us (M.O'L.) toides for the specimen of C squamata, but, as in Marine Research Group of Victoria (1984). A.M. Clark (1966: 345) pointed out, this name is Amphkyclus mortenseni Heding and Panning, a nomen nudum, failing to meet the criteria is 1 954. also described by Hickman ( 1 962), occurs under ICZN Article 13 and replaced herein. in deeper water in eastern Bass Strait. Extensive collecting of echinoderms from the Some essentially tropical species extend southern Australian coast by us and with associ- around the coast of Western Australia into the ates since 1978 has revealed many new holothu- Great Australian Bight (Rowe, 1 982). These are: rian species. Most of the specimens were col- Mensamaria inlercedens (Lampert, 1885); Pen- lected off algae or rocks in the rocky shallows, in tacta crassa (Ekman, 1918); Pentacta quadran- depths of 0-2 m, and representatives of these gularis (Troschel, 1846); and Pentacta anceps species were observed live before preservation. (Selenka, 1867). Cucumaria bicolor Bell, 1887 Other specimens, including materia) from the (see Heding and Panning, 1954: 92) and Cucu- continental shelf, were examined from the col- maria striata Joshua and Creed, 1915 (see A.M. lections of the Museum of Victoria (NMV), the Clark, 1966: 345) have been referred to the syn- Australian Museum (AM), the South Australian onymy of Mensamaria inlercedens. Museum (SAM), the Western Australian 227 228 1'. MARK O'LOUGHLIN AND TIMOTHY D. O'HARA Museum (WAM). the Tasmanian Museum 1815) with ten tentacles and conspicuous pos- (TM), the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute terior processes on the calcareous ring is (NZOI) and the Museum of Comparative considered to be in the Phyllophoridae. Zoology, Harvard (MCZ). The taxonomy within the Cucumariidae is Two of the new species brood their young: the also currently confused and ill-defined, particu- Neocnus species in two marsupia in the anterior larly between the subfamilies Colochirinac and dorsal body wall, and the Penlocmts species in Cucumariinac. Panning (1949), in his revision pouches on the internal anterior body wall. of the Cucumariidae (which included the final Seasonal coelomic brooding has been reported breakup of old heterogeneous taxa such as Cucu- for two south-eastern Australian cucumariids: maria de Blainville, 1834 and Thyone Oken. Staurothyone inconspicua (Bell, 1887) and 1815), distinguished the Colochirinae from the Neoamphicyclus lividus Hickman, 1962 (sec Cucumariinae by the presence of cup-shaped Materia et al„ 1991). ossicles in the body wall of the former. However, many of the species in the Cucumariinae. as then Terminology defined, were subsequently found to have cups or cup-like derivatives, or at least plates similar Terminology predominantly follows Clark in form to genera in the Colochirinae. Panning and Rowe (1971) or Pawson (1970). Ossicle (1971) finally restricted the Cucumariinae to types include cups (pi. 4c), rosettes (pi. 70. tables two genera. Cucumaria and Cladodactyia (fig. 8c), buttons (pi. 9a), plates (pi. 7d), multi- Brandt, 1835 without, however, publishing layered ossicles (pi. 3b), pedicel endplates (pi. emended diagnoses for these genera or either 6g), bar-like ossicles (pi. 9e), mesh-like ossicles subfamily. (small plates in pi. 6h) and rods (pi. 2h). All Panning (1962, 1964. 1966, 1971) further podia or tube feet are referred to as pedicels. A restricted the diagnoses of many of the genera sole is a flattened, delimited modification of the within the Colochirinae. Consequently recent ventral body wall with peripheral pedicels which regional studies (Rowe. 1970; Rowe and Paw- do not extend to the introvert or anus (pi. 2b). son, 1985; Thandar, 1985, 1986, 1987; Gutt, The term radii is used in preference to ambu- 1990; this paper) have added a plethora of new lacra (following Pawson, 1970). Left and right genera as new or existing species could no longer are relative to facing anteriorly along the dorsal be satisfactorily placed in existing genera. This surface. has led to a more natural classification, recog- Order Dendrochirotida Grubc, 1840 nizing structural differences between ossicle (restricted by Pawson and Fell, 1965) types, but more research is necessary, par- ticularly on the derivation of the various cup Cucumariidae Ludwig, 1 894 ossicles. relationships 1 Remarks. The between "cucu- Panning ( 97 1 ) attempted to divide the Colo- mariid" and "phyllophorid" holothurians have chirinae into three distinct groups, based on the been confused. Panning (1949) and Hedingand number of ossicle types present and their func- Panning (1954) define the Cucumariidae and tion. An "Ocnus" group with two types of body the Phyllophoridae predominantly on the basis wall ossicles, a "Pentacta" group with three, and of the number of tentacles, ten in the Cucumari- the genus Pseudocnus with special denticulate idae and more than ten in the Phyllophoridae. plates which function as cups, giving the skin Pawson and Fell ( 1 965) consider that the nature adhesive traction. But this division is unnatural of the calcareous ring is fundamental, placing as many of the species in the "Ocnus" group genera with posterior processes in the Phyllo- have three types of body wall ossicles, not the phoridae and those without in the Cucu- two required, and Pseudocnus is not the only mariidae. However, Clark and Rowe (1971), genus to use denticulate body wall plates to Hickman ( 1 978) and Cannon and Silver ( 1 987) achieve traction. have continued to use the older basis for classi- The phylogeny of the Cucumariidae poses fication. Pawson and Fell's classification is used many problems, particularly due to the apparent in this paper. Consequently the subfamily incidence of convergent evolution. Panning Thyonidiinae (e.g., Cucumella Ludwig and (1971), mainly after Pawson (1966), listed the Heding, 1935 and Neoamphicyclus Hickman, following characters as primitive: posterior 1962) with 15-30 tentacles and simple calcar- extensions on the calcareous ring; pedicels eous ring is included in the Cucumariidae, and restricted to the radii; and an imbricating the subfamily Thyoninae (e.g. Thyone Oken, armour of multi-layered scale-like ossicles i ' 1 ' NEW HOLOTHURIANS FROM SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA 229 a 3 3 &C Si g £?- £ J3j ^3 S © a .© « a ON <3 .5 3 ~© '— <*U © — P'OO 3$ a SSOO .a Sar~. 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