Fig. 65 A–D.
Brissopsis lyrifera: A. Agassiz, 1881: 189; Bell, 1904: 175; Döderlein, 1906: 256 –258. Pl. XXXIV, Figs 4–8, Pl. XLIX, Figs 1– 2; H.L. Clark, 1923: 401; H.L. Clark, 1924: 12 –13; H.L. Clark, 1925a: 213 –214; Mortensen, 1951: 387 –389. Pls. XXX, Figs. 1–4, 7–13, Pl. XXXII, Figs 15, 20, 22; Pl. LVII, Fig. 15; Schultz, 2010: 381, Figs 720–721. Brissopsis lyrifera var capensis: Döderlein, 1910: 248.
Brissopsis lyrifera capensis: Clark & Courtman-Stock, 1976: 249.
Material examined. MBC-A077919; MBC-A077927; MBC-A077910; MBC-A077917; MBC-A077928; MBC- A077923; MBC-A077932; MBC-A077915; MBC-A077914; MBC-A077924; MBC-A077916; MBC-A077930; MBC-A077921; MBC-A077926; MBC-A 022334; MBC-A 022335; MBC-A 022337; MBC-A 022338; MBC- A 022339; MBC-A 022347; MBC-A023305; MBC-A027735; MBC-A077922; MBC-A077912; MBC-A077921; MBC-A077925; MBC-A077918; MBC-A077913; MBC-A077913; MBC-A077911; A23073; A23087; MBC- A077929; MBC-A077931; A23083.
Identification. Test heart-shaped; petals straight and divergent. Petals with reduced inner pores. Anterior ambulacrum with differentiated pores, associated with tube feet. Apical disc ethmolytic, with four gonopores. Peripetalous and bilobed subanal fascioles present; apical disc being sub-central; sternal plates tuberculated.
Global maximum size. Maximum test length 70 mm.
Global distribution. Eastern Atlantic from Norway to Iceland, along European coasts of Mediterranean and southward to Canary Islands and West Africa (Mortensen, 1951; Schultz 2010) at 5–1400 m (Döderlein 1910; Mortensen 1951; Schultz 2010), West and East coast regions of South Africa,
Remarks. Samples identified through this study extend previously known distribution eastwards towards Richards Bay and Sodwana Bay. According to Mortensen (1951) there are variations in the size of the posterior petals amongst South African and Atlantic-Mediterranean species. Thus B. lyrifera (Forbes 1841) was separated into two subspecies B. lyrifera capensis (South African subspecies) and B. lyrifera lyrifera (Atlantic- Mediterranean subspecies), Furthermore, B. lyrifera capensis has pedicellariae densely packed in the posterior ambulacrum and around the peristome, seldom on the aboral side; whereas pedicellariae are found on the aboral side in the midline of the interambulacrum, in the case of B. lyrifera lyrifera.