Laetmogone violacea Theel 1879

Laetmogone violacea Théel, 1879 Reports for the Azores:

non Laetmogone wyvillethomsoni Théel, 1879 — ? $ Hérouard 1902: 31–32, pl. 4, figs. 10–16;

Laetmogone violacea Théel, 1879 — $ Perrier 1902: 390–398, pl. 19, figs. 1–7; Mortensen 1927a: 361–363, figs. 213, 214; Deichmann 1930: 120–121; Grieg 1932: 5; $ Hansen 1975: 58–61, figs. 21–22, pl. 8, fig. 8, pl. 9, figs. 9–10; Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992a: 171; García-Diez et al. 2005: 52.

Type locality: South Pacific Ocean.

See: Perrier (1902); Hansen (1975).

Occurrence: cosmopolitan, present in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans; from Greenland and Iceland (Heding 1942) south to Cape Verde (Hérouard 1923), including the archipelagos of the Azores (Perrier 1902).

Depth: 225– 1,804 m (Hansen 1975); AZO: 1,442–? 1,550 m (Hérouard 1902, Perrier 1902).

Habitat: epibenthic deposit-feeder on soft sediments, muddy sand to mud (Hérouard 1923, Hanse 1975).

Larval stage: lecithotrophic (Tyler et al. (1985c).

Remarks: Perrier (1902) identified L. violacea among the material collected by Talisman in the NE Atlantic, including specimens from the Azores (sta 121, 1883: 37°35’N, 29°25’46”W, 1,442 m). During the same year, Hérouard (1902) described another species of the same genus from Azorean waters, the Antarctic Laetmogone wyvillethomsoni (Princesse Alice, sta 683: 38°20’N, 28°04’45”W, 1,550 m). Historically, L. violacea has been confused with L. wyvillethomsoni. Hansen (1975) considered that L. wyvillethomsoni was restricted to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica waters and all historical reports from the Atlantic (e.g., Koehler 1896c; Grieg 1932) would prove to be misidentifications with closely similar species such as L. violacea. However, when Hansen re-examined the material assigned to L. wyvillethomsoni dredged by Princesse Alice in the Azores, the author believed that it belonged to a new species. Unfortunately, the poor preservation and the small number of specimens that constituted Princesse Alice ’s material did not allow Hansen to further provide a clear identification. No other specimens sharing the characteristics of Princesse Alice material were reported again and the matter is still unresolved. Nevertheless, some authors like García-Diez et al. (2005) have placed the record of L. wyvillethomsoni by Hérouard in the synonymy of L. violacea.