Polycarpa mytiligera Savigny 1816
Creators: name: Monniot, Françoise
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Ascidiacea
Stolidobranchia
Styelidae
Polycarpa
Polycarpa mytiligera

description: <i>Polycarpa mytiligera</i> Savigny, 1816 (Figure 20C, 23) <i>Cynthia mytiligera</i> Savigny, 1816: 98 pl. VIII-2. <i>Polycarpa mytiligera</i>: Monniot C. 1973: 55 Fig. 3A. Monniot F. &amp; Monniot C. 1999: 29 Fig. 17, pl. 3F. Monniot C.et al: 2001: 95 <b>Material.</b> Coll. Coral Reef research Foundation, <b>Palau</b>, Southwest Isl., Helen Reef (Hotsarihi), 02°48.88’N – 131°46.75’E, 10m, 22/IX/2008, 0CDN 9871-0 (MNHN S1 POL. B 554) The single specimen 5.5cm long is covered with epibionts. The lining of the siphons was white with a thin orange line at the rim (Fig. 20C). In formalin the body wall is brown with dark round cells and clear vesicles. There is a large oral velum. About 20 tentacles are intercalated with smaller ones. A thick dorsal tubercle with multiple openings is located in a wide V of the peripharyngeal band. The dorsal lamina is low and long. The branchial sac (Fig. 23B) has 4 low folds on each side. The formula at mid-length on the right side is: E-4- <b>11</b> -6- <b>15</b> -6- <b>16</b> -5- <b>15</b> -4 DL There are a few parastigmatic vessels. The digestive loop occupies a small part of the left body side (Fig. 23A); it is only linked to the body wall by bridles. The secondary loop is wide, ending in a smooth-edged anus. A wide pyloric canal crosses the primary intestinal loop. Three foliated endocarps occupy the gut loop. Very numerous gonads are included into the body wall (Fig. 23A), they are only indicated on the surface by the gonoducts. Each round polycarp is composed of a central ovary lying on two lines of testis vesicles. There are no endocarps on the body wall. The atrial siphon has a large velum and filiform tentacles at the base in a trapeze shape area. <b>Remarks.</b> The taxonomic status of several <i>Polycarpa</i> species is not satisfactory, and a reminder of previous positions is given here. The type specimen of <i>P. mytiligera</i> could not be found but numerous samples from Eilat are described by Monniot C. (1973): they have numerous gonads and either a plain or dented anus. The anatomy of the species described here under the name <i>P. mytiligera</i> is also very similar to <i>Polycarpa pigmentata</i> (Herdman, 1906) which only differs in having a lobed edge of the anus instead of plain, and fewer polycarps. Kott (1985) for <i>P. pigmentata</i> from Australia noted a lobed anus but did not enumerate the number of gonads. Monniot C. (1987) assigned to <i>P. pigmentata</i> New Caledonian specimens with a smooth edged anus and few gonads and in the same paper named <i>P. mytiligera?</i> ascidians which probably belong to more than one species, and differ by many more gonads and fewer branchial vessels. Monniot F. &amp; Monniot C. (1999) placed in <i>P. mytiligera</i> specimens from Tanzania and Mozambique, having numerous gonads and a scalloped anus, taking into account the gonad number. Monniot C. et al (2001) described as <i>P. mytiligera</i> specimens from South Africa with a “slightly dented” anus and about 100 polycarps. Monniot F. &amp; Monniot C. (1996) named New Guinea specimens: <i>P. pigmentata</i> havin <i>g</i> a lobed anus and only 10 gonads on each side. In conclusion the different number of gonads remains the single argument to separate both species.
description: Published as part of <i>Monniot, Françoise, 2010, Some new data on tropical western Pacific Ascidians, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2561 (1)</i> on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2561.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5304193
description: {"references": ["Savigny, J. C. (1816) Memoires sur les animaux sans vertebres, Paris 1816, 2, 1 - 239.", "Kott, P. (1985) The Australian Ascidiacea. Part 1. Phlebobranchiata and Stolidobranchiata. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 23, 1 - 440."]}