Rhabdopleura decipula Gordon & Randolph Quek & Huang 2024, n. sp.

• Main Authors: Gordon, Dennis P., Randolph Quek, Z. B., Huang, Danwei
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Hemichordata; Pterobranchia; Rhabdopleurida; Rhabdopleuridae; Rhabdopleura; Rhabdopleura decipula; Snares Islands
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10838143; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/0381104DFFD6B942EAF0F94EF7B8FF56

Rhabdopleura decipula n. sp. (Figs 2B, D, F, 9B‒E, 10A‒K) Material examined. Holotype: NIWA 162592, Stn Z 19247, Stewart-Snares shelf, 47.8230° S, 166.7680° E, 167 m, 14 October 2016, in ethanol. Paratypes 1‒2: NIWA 161212, same data as for holotype. Paratype 3 : NIWA 158517, Stn TRIP 2577/45, southern Snares shelf, 48.6850° S, 166.4100° E, 190 m, 16 February 2008. Other material: NIWA 162591 (part), Stn Z 19246, Stewart-Snares shelf, 47.5910° S, 166.7170° E, 163 m, 14 October 2016. Etymology. Latin decipula , trap, snare, alluding to the provenance of the species northeast of The Snares Islands, Stewart-Snares shelf, New Zealand. Diagnosis. Erect ringed tubes budded directly from surface of creeping tubes. Colony ramifying over dead shell, up to 4 cm length or diameter. Erect tubes spaced 630‒1116 μm apart, mean erect-tube diameter 136 μm, mean fusellus height 32 μm. Creeping tubes sinuous, zigzag sutures inconspicuous, on about a third to half of convexity width; zigzag angles 26‒44°. Dormant bodies common. Three to four creeping tubes can be initiated from sicula and immediate daughter tubes. Description. Inception of ringed erect tubes is direct. Colony encrusting surface of dead shell, ramifying mostly irregularly over surface (Fig. 9B), with generally curved and sinuous or sections between side branches, produced at various angles at non-regular intervals; spreading up to at least 4 cm across substratum, forming conspicuous dark-brown to black continuous tracery. Creeping tubes frequently sinuous in their course, even on very smooth shell; convex part of tube 238‒344 (293) μm ( n = 18), with flattened marginal lamina along both sides, also of variable width [36‒67 (51) μm, n = 10], its edges often diffuse and not well defined. Surface fusellar sutures very thin (Fig. 10E, F), with point-to-point zigzag angles of predominantly 26‒44 (35)°, mode 35° ( n = 75); zigzag sequence occupying c. 35‒55% of convexity width, with zigzag components mostly gently curved. Pectocaulus running along floor of creeping ...