Gorgocephalus pustulatum
Creators: name: Calero, Belén
name: Ramil, Fran
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Platyhelminthes
Trematoda
Plagiorchiida
Gorgocephalidae
Gorgocephalus
Gorgocephalus pustulatum

description: Gorgocephalus pustulatum (H.L. Clark, 1916)
Figs 10–11
Astrodendrum pustulatum Clark, 1916: 84–85, pl. XXXIV figs 1–2.
Gorgonocephalus pustulatum Baker, 1980: 54–56, figs 18B, 20, 30.
Gorgonocephalus pectinatus Mortensen, 1933: 281–285, figs. 16–17, pl. XVIII figs. 1–2.
Gorgonocephalus pustulatum – Rowe & Gates 1995: 368. — Calero et al. 2018: 3, 8. Gorgonocephalus pectinatus – Clark & Courtman-Stock 1976: 133.
Material examined
GUINEA BISSAU • 1 spec., 30.45 mm dd; 10°01′18″– 10°00′24″ N, 17°24′56″– 17°25′05″ W; depth 902–908 m; 24 Oct. 2008; Bissau-0810 exped.; stn BS166; Bissau-0810-18012; LZM-UV.
Distribution
This species has an Indo-Pacific distribution. It has been recorded in South Africa from Cape Province to East London (Mortensen 1933), the Indonesian region (Döderlein 1927) and Flinders Islands (Bass Strait, Australia) (Clark 1916); its bathymetric range extends from 182 (Clark 1916) to 860 m (Clark & Courtman-Stock 1976).
Our material was recorded in one station in Guinea-Bissau waters, between 902 and 908 m. This material is the same as that reported by Calero et al. (2018).
Description
The dorsal side of disc covered by a skin with some scattered tubercles, ending in some small thorns. The same type of tubercles were found on the marginal belt of plates.
Radial shields long and bar-shaped, nearly reaching the centre of the disc (Fig. 11A). They are almost completely covered by tubercles similar to those from the interradial areas but slightly bigger (Fig. 11C). The ventral interradial areas are almost fully covered by small granules.
Plates of the oral frame swollen and obscured by a thick skin. Oral shields with some scattered small granules. There is a cluster of slender apical papillae flanked on each side by smaller oral papillae.
Arms also covered by a skin concealing the plates. First pair of tentacle pores outside the mouth edge, without arm spines. Two arm spines from the second to fifth or sixth pores; afterwards, from the first fork on, three spines. Arm spines are small, less than one arm segment, and with some thorny ends.
First fork within the edge of the disc. Dorsally, arms covered by flat granules, and with a longitudinal median furrow (Fig. 11F). Pedicellarial bands along the arms, appearing from the first segments.
Remarks
Even though the single specimen collected was badly damaged, the presence of the main distinctive features of Gorgonocephalus pustulatum (H.L. Clark, 1916), like the number of spines (max. 4), disc coverage (sparse and low tubercles) or the thin peripheral ring, legitimate our identification to species level.
Our finding in Guinea-Bissau represents the first record of G. pustulatum in the Tropical East Atlantic Ocean, extending its geographical distribution to the north, from south Africa to Guinea-Bissau. This station also represents the deepest record for this species (908 m).
description: Published as part of Calero, Belén & Ramil, Fran, 2023, Euryalida (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea) from Northwest Africa, pp. 46-75 in European Journal of Taxonomy 870 on pages 67-68, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.870.2117, http://zenodo.org/record/7938618