Cladolabes limaconotus Brandt 1835

Cladolabes limaconotus Brandt, 1835 (Figs 8–10)

Cladolabes limaconctos [sic] Brandt, 1835: 57 (“ limacontos ” in footnote).

Cladolabes limaconotos [sic] Brandt 1836: 187 (indicated as “Nov. spec.”).

Cladolabes limacondos [sic]: Selenka 1867: 331.

Holothuria limaconotus: Selenka 1867: 331.

Orcula limaconotus: Ludwig 1881: 589.

Phyllophorus limaconotus: Oshima 1918: 147.

Cladolabes limaconotus: Heding and Panning 1954: 123; Imaoka 1995: 557; Rowe and Gates 1995: 322.

Material examined. ZMUC-HOL-301, neotype, July 1893, 25 fathoms (i.e., ca. 46 m) deep, 33°5′N, 128°22′E, Nagasaki, Japan.

Description. Body 150 mm long, 50 mm wide, fusiform, curved, mouth anterior, anus posterior, no anal teeth; body colour bleached brown; pedicels around body, not radial (Fig. 8). Twenty dendritic tentacles in double circle (15+5). Numerous Polian vesicles and stone canals. Main part of calcareous ring consisting of 10 elements (five radii+five inter-radii), thick, not fragmented, possessing very short, thin, spongiform posterior prolongations (Fig. 9). Only one type of ossicle in examined tentacle: finely branched rods (Fig. 10A). Introvert with two type of ossicles: 1) two-pillared tables with large disc and short spire; and 2) two-pillared tables with small disc and spire ending in cluster of spines (Fig. 10B). Body-wall integument mainly with one type of ossicle: two-pillared tables with small disc and spire ending in cluster of spines (Fig. 10C).

Distribution. Boulder shore of Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands (Brandt 1835); offshore of Nagasaki, 25 fathoms (i.e., ca. 46 m) deep (Heding and Panning 1954).

Remarks. The morphological account given by Heding and Panning (1954) was so precise and accurate that our observation yielded no taxonomic novelty or necessity for correction. However, the photograph of the general appearance of the body (Fig. 8), as well as the newly reported ossicle morphology of a tentacle and the introvert (Fig. 10A, B), may be useful in future studies of the systematics of Cladolabes.

Nomenclature. Due to wide acceptance by later authors, we consider that the specific name limaconotus should be maintained as valid, as stipulated in Article 33.3.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999), although this spelling is not from Brandt’s (1835) original work, but from Selenka (1867). In the original description, Brandt (1835) gave the etymology in a footnote, stating (in Latin) that the name alludes to the similarity of the appearance of the dorsum of this new holothurian to that of slugs. Although significantly disturbed by printer’s errors in the original description— limaconctos in the heading and limacontos in the footnote (Brandt 1835: 257)—, neither of which spelling contains a Latin or Greek root referring to “dorsum”, the author’s true intention appears to have been actualized in the succeeding publication (Brandt 1836), namely limaconotos, which is clearly derived from limacis (Latin, “of slug”) and notos (Greek, “dorsum”). Nonetheless, this latter spelling cannot be adopted as the “correct original spelling” because it was not a demonstrably intentional correction (i.e., not an emendation) and because incorrect transliteration (to “ nctos ” or “ ntos ” instead of “ notos ”) is not considered an inadvertent error (Article 32.5.1). The original footnote did not include the Greek word “ notos ”, either in the Greek or Latin alphabet, which would have provided clear evidence of an inadvertent error. Without explanation, Selenka (1867) altered the ending from -os to -us, probably trying to avoid a Latin–Greek hybrid. This incorrect subsequent spelling (Article 33.3), limaconotus, was consistently adopted by later workers, however (e.g., Ludwig 1881: 589; Lampert 1885: 169; Théel 1886: 149; see also the synonymy above). As a result of this prevailing usage (under Article 33.3.1), it is to be maintained as valid.