Echinoderes sp.

Fig. 25; Table 19

Echinoderes cf. ehlersi – Higgins & Rao 1979: 79–83 (specimens USNM-55393, USNM-55396, USNM-55398 to 55400).

Material examined

INDIA • 1 ♀, 4 ♂♂; Andaman Islands, Havelock Island, East Point; 11°54′ N, 093°03′ E; <1 m b.s.l.; 5 Apr. 1974; G.C. Rao leg.; intertidal black mud with macroalgae; USNM-55393, 55396, and 55398 to 55400. Specimens mounted for LM on Cobb slide in Hoyer’s medium.

The specimens were originally reported as Echinoderes cf. ehlersi (Higgins & Rao 1979). See Table 1 for an overview.

Description

The five specimens were collected together with another five specimens that all together were reported as Echinoderes cf. ehlersi by Higgins & Rao (1979). However, our examinations suggested that the latter five specimens represent a new species. The five specimens, addressed in the following, differ from E. chandrasekharai Sørensen & Chatterjee sp. nov. and as E. ehlersi in some significant points, but since the specimens' condition (e.g., the disability to observe sensory spots consistently) did not provide sufficient information for a complete description and specimens for SEM were not available, we will for now only provide a short description of the observed characters without providing a formal species description.

The examined specimens resemble species like E. kozloffi, E. pacificus and E. sublicarum in general trunk appearance (Fig. 25A) and dimensions (see Table 19). The distribution of glandular cell outlets type 1 (Fig. 25 B–G) is similar to the distribution in E. pacificus also (see Table 8), and so is the distribution of those sensory spots that could be observed. However, the presence or absence of sensory spots could not be confirmed in the following positions: sublateral segment 1, middorsal segment 2, midlateral segment 4 and segment 9. The spine/tube pattern and the approximate dimensions are similar with those of E. kozloffi, i.e., the middorsal spine on segment 8 reaches to a point around the midline of segment 9 (Fig. 25D, F), but never onto segment 10. Glandular cell outlets type 2 are present in midlateral positions, but only on segment 8 (Fig. 25F). Female papillae are present in ventromedial positions on segments 7 (more lateral) and 8 (more medial) (Fig. 25E). The substructures of the papillae on segment 7 are crescentic with a small protuberance in the curved parts of the structures, whereas the substructures on segment 8 form narrow tubes (Fig. 25E). Tergal extensions of terminal segment and shape of lateral terminal spines resemble those in E. kozloffi (Fig. 25G).