WoRMS taxon details

Polysyncraton rostrum Monniot F. & Monniot C., 1997

221023  (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:221023)

accepted
Species
marine, fresh, terrestrial
Monniot, F.; Monniot, C. (1997). Ascidians Collected in Tanzania. <em>Journal of East African Natural History.</em> 86(1), 1-35., available online at https://doi.org/10.2982/0012-8317(1997)86[1:acit]2.0.co;2
page(s): 11, figs. 7C,D; 8E,G; pl. 1F. [details]  Available for editors  PDF available [request] 
Holotype  MNHN A2 Pol 84, geounit Pemba  
Holotype MNHN A2 Pol 84, geounit Pemba [details]
Note Tanzania, Pemba island:...  
From editor or global species database
Type locality Tanzania, Pemba island: 05°23.07'S-039°35.24'E and 05°27.18'S-039°43.07'E, 1 to 6 m (CRRF coll.), Type: MNHN A2 Pol 84;additional specimens: A2 Pol 85(Monniot & Monniot, 1997) [details]
Description This species covers rocks and corals in crusts as broad as 30 cm but only 1 to 2 mm thick. Its colour in life is light to...  
Description This species covers rocks and corals in crusts as broad as 30 cm but only 1 to 2 mm thick. Its colour in life is light to deep orange-red (pl. IF), lighter around the common cloacal apertures. The upper surface is raised into many small and regularly spaced elevations where the common cloacal apertures open (pl. 1F). The darker oral siphons give a spotted design to the colony surface. The spicules are dense throughout the whole thickness of the easily broken crusts. The upper layer of the colony can be delaminated at the level of the thoracic cloacal channels. The basal part of the colony is the thickest and contains abdomens and larvae. The zooids have funnel-like oral siphons with sharp lobes, three short lobes alternating with three longer ones (fig. 8E). This arrangement is apparent under magnification because the tunic around each of the three longest oral lobes contains spicules that protrude as three teeth into the oral aperture. The cloacal siphon is prolonged anteriorly as a little beak with a tiny round, button-like languet (fig. 8E). This languet is larger near the common cloacal apertures. The lateral thoracic organs lie at the level of the first row of stigmata (fig. 8E), which has eight to ten stigmata. The thorax has a straight, wide base without a retractor muscle (fig. 8E). The abdomen is less voluminous than the thorax. The digestive tract has the usual shape; inside the loop are five to six testis vesicles pressed to each other in a spherical mass encircled by two to three turns of the sperm duct (fig. 8F). The gonad protrudes from the gut loop. In one colony dark cells were present in the abdominal body wall. The larval trunk (fig. 8G) is 600 p.mlong. The three adhesive papillae are surrounded by 16 to 20 ampullae in a circle; these ampullae have irregular, more or less deeply indented tips. An ocellus and an otolith are present, as are three rows of already pierced stigmata. There is a bud on each side of the larval trunk (fig. 8G). The spicules (fig. 7C, D) have very different sizes. The largest are about 40 p.m across. Their rays are numerous and usually pointed, not regularly arranged, and they are present in variable number, and may even be truncated to form balls. [details]
Shenkar, N.; Gittenberger, A.; Lambert, G.; Rius, M.; Moreira da Rocha, R.; Swalla, B.J.; Turon, X. (2024). Ascidiacea World Database. Polysyncraton rostrum Monniot F. & Monniot C., 1997. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=221023 on 2024-04-18
Date
action
by
2000-08-31 08:09:39Z
created
Vermaercke, Sigrid
2003-02-01 15:57:03Z
changed
2007-12-05 12:32:01Z
checked

Creative Commons License The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License


original description Monniot, F.; Monniot, C. (1997). Ascidians Collected in Tanzania. <em>Journal of East African Natural History.</em> 86(1), 1-35., available online at https://doi.org/10.2982/0012-8317(1997)86[1:acit]2.0.co;2
page(s): 11, figs. 7C,D; 8E,G; pl. 1F. [details]  Available for editors  PDF available [request] 

additional source van der Land, J. (ed). (2008). UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO). , available online at http://www.marinespecies.org/urmo/ [details]   
 
 Present  Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio   Inaccurate  Introduced: alien  Containing type locality 
   

Holotype MNHN A2 Pol 84, geounit Pemba [details]
Unknown type MNHN A2 Pol 85, geounit Pemba [details]
From editor or global species database
Description This species covers rocks and corals in crusts as broad as 30 cm but only 1 to 2 mm thick. Its colour in life is light to deep orange-red (pl. IF), lighter around the common cloacal apertures. The upper surface is raised into many small and regularly spaced elevations where the common cloacal apertures open (pl. 1F). The darker oral siphons give a spotted design to the colony surface. The spicules are dense throughout the whole thickness of the easily broken crusts. The upper layer of the colony can be delaminated at the level of the thoracic cloacal channels. The basal part of the colony is the thickest and contains abdomens and larvae. The zooids have funnel-like oral siphons with sharp lobes, three short lobes alternating with three longer ones (fig. 8E). This arrangement is apparent under magnification because the tunic around each of the three longest oral lobes contains spicules that protrude as three teeth into the oral aperture. The cloacal siphon is prolonged anteriorly as a little beak with a tiny round, button-like languet (fig. 8E). This languet is larger near the common cloacal apertures. The lateral thoracic organs lie at the level of the first row of stigmata (fig. 8E), which has eight to ten stigmata. The thorax has a straight, wide base without a retractor muscle (fig. 8E). The abdomen is less voluminous than the thorax. The digestive tract has the usual shape; inside the loop are five to six testis vesicles pressed to each other in a spherical mass encircled by two to three turns of the sperm duct (fig. 8F). The gonad protrudes from the gut loop. In one colony dark cells were present in the abdominal body wall. The larval trunk (fig. 8G) is 600 p.mlong. The three adhesive papillae are surrounded by 16 to 20 ampullae in a circle; these ampullae have irregular, more or less deeply indented tips. An ocellus and an otolith are present, as are three rows of already pierced stigmata. There is a bud on each side of the larval trunk (fig. 8G). The spicules (fig. 7C, D) have very different sizes. The largest are about 40 p.m across. Their rays are numerous and usually pointed, not regularly arranged, and they are present in variable number, and may even be truncated to form balls. [details]

Genetic nomenclature abbreviation Psyros [details]

Remark This species shows some similarities with P. poro Monniot & Monniot from Polynesia, in the colour and shape of the colony and the zooids. But the cloacal languet here is shorter and not bifid, and the spicules are very different. Some unicellular algae were present on the surface of one colony, but they did not remain after collection. [details]

Type locality Tanzania, Pemba island: 05°23.07'S-039°35.24'E and 05°27.18'S-039°43.07'E, 1 to 6 m (CRRF coll.), Type: MNHN A2 Pol 84;additional specimens: A2 Pol 85(Monniot & Monniot, 1997) [details]