Actinopyga flammea Cherbonnier, 1979: 3, figs 1, 2A-P; Féral & Cherbonnier, 1986: 72 (colour plate); Pawson, 1995: 198; Lane et al. 2000: 488; Samyn, 2003: 10; Samyn et al., 2006: 54, 56, 66.
Type data: EcHh 3094; Extérieur du Grand Recif, 22°21' S - 166°14' E (New Caledonia); 40-45 m depth; coll. A. Intes; 1977; well preserved; poorly-relaxed; eviscerated; dorso-longitudinal dissection.
Anatomical description: 180 mm long; 80-115 mm wide; bivium arched; trivium distinctly flattened; mouth ventral; anus terminal; dorsal body wall red with brown papillae; ventral body wall grey-brown; tentacles brown-grey; color dorsal appendages could not be determined; ventral tube feet brown; dorsal appendages not observed; ventral tube dispersed regularly over trivium; bivium and trivium not separated by lateral fringe of appendages; body wall 12 mm thick, smooth to the touch; 13 tentacles counted; radial plates with convex posterior side; interradial plates narrower than radial ones; length radial plates nearly the same as that of interradial ones; number of tentacle ampullae not determined; tenatcle ampullae from 38-41 mm long; Polian vesicle single, 120 mm long; stone canal(s) could not be determined; gonad in single tuft, tubules ramified; longitudinal muscles bifid, wide, free at edges; respiratory trees longer than half of body length; cloaca 17 mm long; Cuvierian tubules present.
Ossicle description: Tentacles with slightly rugose rods of various sizes, small ones often bifurcating distally; dorsal body wall with spiny rosette-rods; ventral body wall with rosette-like rods with smooth and swollen distal ends and with rosette-like spiny rods; dorsal appendages with bifurcating spiny rods and rare nodules; ventral tube feet with smooth to spiny rods; longitudinal muscles with smooth rods; cloacal retractor muscles with smooth rods; cloaca with spiny bifurcating rods and spiny plate-like deposits; gonad with rods that often bifuracte; respiratory tree and gut devoid of ossicles.
Known distribution: New Caledonia (166°14’E-22°21’S), Borneo, southern South China Sea.
Taxonomic decision: valid species (confirmed after re-examination of holotype).
For original description click here.
{morfeo 5}
