Bonellia pumicea Sluiter, 1891

Bonellia pumicea Sluiter, 1891

( Fig. 4C View FIG )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — East Equatorial Atlantic Ocean. BIOZAIRE 1, ROV-PL 79-3 CL 3, stn ZB-B, 07°18.31’S, 012°04.83’E, 374 m, 7.I.2001, 1 ♀.

DESCRIPTION

Colour of trunk in preserved specimen is grey; proboscis is missing.Trunk is oval in outline, 1.5 mm long and 1 mm across broadest part ( Fig. 4C View FIG ). Integument is thin and transparent, coils of gut visible. Single ventral seta present on left side, right one is missing, probably fallen off. Seta goldenyellow with cylindrical shaft and flattened, curved terminal blade. Papillae microscopic, visible only at anterior end of trunk.

Gonoduct single, on left side of nerve cord with basally located gonostome, gut contents moulded into oval faecal pellets, anal vesicles two main tubes bearing tubules which branch once or twice before terminating in ciliated funnels.

REMARKS

The species B. pumicea was originally described from a single female from Sumatra by Sluiter (1891). This species is fairly well known as it has been recorded and redescribed from the North Atlantic by DattaGupta (1981) and Biseswar (1992). Bonellia pumicea is closely related to B. plumosa DattaGupta, 1981 but differs in the structure of the body wall and blood vascular system. Stephen & Edmonds (1972) have mentioned the presence of white papillae as the main feature to separate B. pumicea from the rest of the species in the genus Bonellia . According to DattaGupta (1981), B. plumosa has a broad ring sinus located at the junction of the pro- and mid-intestine.

The discovery of this species from the West African continental margin is a new record and extends its range of distribution southwards in the Atlantic.