Actinopyga albonigra Cherbonnier & Féral, 1984: 661, fig. 2A-J; Féral & Cherbonnier, 1986: 70, colour plate; Pawson, 1995: 187; Massin, 1996: 6, fig. 1A-D.
Type data: EcHh 3112; Ilot Maitre, NW side (New Caledonia); 4 m depth; coll. Menou (ORSTOM team); 21.IX.1977; well preserved; poorly relaxed; not eviscerated; ventro-longitudinal dissection, calcareous ring partly cut away.
Anatomical Description: 140 mm long; 30-80 mm wide; bivium arched; trivium distinctly flattened; mouth ventral; anus dorsal; dorsal body wall grey-beige with irregular dark patches; ventral body wall grey-beige; tentacles grey-greenish; color dorsal appendages could not be determined (retracted); ventral tube feet beige; dorsal appendages few, spread regularly over complete bivium; ventral tube dispersed regularly over trivium; bivium and trivium not separated by lateral fringe of appendages; body wall 6-7 mm thick, smooth to the touch; 17 tentacles counted; radial plates with deep posterior notch; interradial plates narrower than radial ones; length radial plates equal to that of interradial ones; number of tentacle ampullae could not be determined; Polian vesicle single, large; stone canal single, short; gonad with unramified tubules; longitudinal muscles bifid, narrow, free at edges; respiratory tree longer than 1/2 body length; cloaca 32 mm long; Cuvierian tubules absent.
Ossicle description: tentacles with abundant slender, slightly rugose rods; dorsal body wall with numerous rosettes; ventral body wall with numerous rosettes; dorsal appendages with numerous rosettes, no end-plates were found; venral tube feet with numerous rosettes and an end-plate; longitudinal muscles with abundant slender smooth rods; cloacal retractor muscles with with abundant smooth rods, with distal and shallow lateral extensions; cloaca with abundant spiny rods that bifurcate to form complex snow-flake like structure; gonad with abundant slender, rugose rods.
Known distribution: New Caledonia (ilot Maître), Indonesia (Ambon).
Taxonomic decision: valid species (confirmed after re-examination of holotype and other voucher specimens).
For original description click here.
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