Abstract
The new species of didemnid ascidian, Trididemnum maragogi sp. nov., is described from the Northeastern Brazilian coast. Many small colonies aggregate on calcareous algae. They are brown and more or less covered by spicules, depending on exposure to the sun, which suggests the presence of symbiotic algae. This species is characterized by a non pigmented zooid with a very long oral siphon bordered by six finger-like lobes, a branchial sac with anterior and posterior non perforated areas, a short muscular process on the esophageal peduncle and a testis with one large follicle partially surrounded by 6-7 coils of the sperm duct.
Ascidiacea taxonomy; Didemnidae; Trididemnum; Northeastern Brazil
Trididemnum maragogi sp. novo (Ascidiacea, Didemnidae) trom Alagoas, Northeastern Brazil1 1 Contribuição número 1318 do Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná.
Rosana Moreira da Rocha
Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Caixa Postal 19020, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil. E-mail: rmrocha@bio.ufpr.br
ABSTRACT
The new species of didemnid ascidian, Trididemnum maragogi sp. nov., is described from the Northeastern Brazilian coast. Many small colonies aggregate on calcareous algae. They are brown and more or less covered by spicules, depending on exposure to the sun, which suggests the presence of symbiotic algae. This species is characterized by a non pigmented zooid with a very long oral siphon bordered by six finger-like lobes, a branchial sac with anterior and posterior non perforated areas, a short muscular process on the esophageal peduncle and a testis with one large follicle partially surrounded by 6-7 coils of the sperm duct.
Key words: Ascidiacea taxonomy, Didemnidae, Trididemnum, Northeastern Brazil
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The author would like to thank the Electronic Microscopy Center of the Universidade Federal do Paraná for S.E.M. work and CNPq for a research grant. Thanks also to Jim Roper for reviewing the English text.
Received in 10.VI.2002; accepted in 02.X.2002.
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Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
11 May 2009 -
Date of issue
Dec 2002
History
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Accepted
02 Oct 2002 -
Received
10 June 2002
