urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4EDB8115-4138-4682-9A79-76D8DFB19650.
Description (holotype).Stem short, length approximately 1/10 disc diameter; not longer than wide at base of disc. Disc diameter approximately 17 mm (3 mm after shrinkage), stalk length approximately 4.5 mm (cf. Fig. 6 C). Disc circular with entire margin. Mouth-field of three lobes, two lobes of equal length both longer than the third lobe. Disc with 63 terminals of the gastrovascular branches.
Remarks.Dendrogramma discoides sp. nov. differs from D. enigmatica by its much shorter stalk and entire disc.
Australia, Victoria, S of Pt. Hicks, 38° 21.9′S 149° 20.0′E–38° 21.40′S 149°20.90′E, 1000 m, WHOI epibenthic sled, RV Franklin Stn SLOPE 32, 23 July 1986, G.C.B. Poore et al., NMV F65710.
Paratypes.2 specimens, data as holotype, NMV F65711. 1 specimen, data as holotype, ZMUC-DEN-03.
In 1986, benthic sampling from depths of 300 and 1000 meters on the Australian continental slope off eastern Bass Strait and Tasmania turned up two enigmatic new invertebrate species.These have been analyzed and formally described as Dendrogramma discoides and D. enigmata in a new family Dendrogrammidae (Just et al. 2014).Analyses found these very unusual, small (less than 2 cm across when alive), asymmetrical, mushroom-shaped organisms impossible to place into higher a higher taxonomic framework.
Dendrogramma discoides, its name representing its round disk shape which is complete and unnotched, is smaller than D. enigmata and has a shorter stalk.See the Dendrogramma genus page for more information about this species.
(Just et al. 2014)
Dendrogramma enigmatica new species
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9BBD1C77-4B5B-4248-8B0D-79D598F07E05.
Holotype.
Australia, Victoria, S of Pt. Hicks, 38° 21.9′S 149° 20.0′E–38° 21.40′S 149°20.90′E, 1000 m, WHOI epibenthic sled, RV Franklin Stn SLOPE 32, 23 July 1986, G.C.B. Poore et al., NMV F65709.
Paratypes.
9 specimens, same data as holotype, NMV F60459. 2 specimens, same data as holotype, ZMUC-DEN-01. 1 specimen used for SEM, same data as holotype, ZMUC-DEN-02. 1 specimen [fragments], Australia, Tasmania, off Freycinet Peninsula, 41° 57.50′S 148° 37.90′E, 400 m, coarse shell, WHOI epibenthic sled, RV Franklin Stn SLOPE 48, 27 July 1986, M.F. Gomon et al., NMV F60458.
Dendrogramma enigmatica
Description (holotype).
Tapering stalk elongate, about 7/10 as long as disc diameter; length approximately 1.5 width at base of disc. Disc diameter approximately 11 mm (2.8 mm after shrinkage), stalk length approximately 7.8 mm (2 mm after shrinkage). Disc nearly circular with single marginal notch and small rounded hump on each side of notch on disc surface. Mouth-field asymmetrically bilobed, reaching farther up one side of the stalk than the other. Disc with 37 terminals of the gastrovascular branches.
Remarks.
Dendrogramma enigmatica sp. nov. differs from D. discoides by its much longer stalk with a bilobed mouth field, and a marginal notch in the disc.
In 1986, benthic sampling from depths of 300 and 1000 meters on the Australian continental slope off eastern Bass Strait and Tasmania turned up two enigmatic new invertebrate species.These have been analyzed and formally described as Dendrogramma enigmata and D. discoides in a new family Dendrogrammidae (Just et al. 2014).Analyses found these very unusual, small (less than 2 cm across when alive), asymmetrical, mushroom-shaped organisms impossible to place into higher a higher taxonomic framework.
Dendrogramma enigmata, its name representing that it has been and still is a scientific enigma, is larger than D. discoides, has a longer stalk and a notched disk.See the Dendrogramma genus page for more information about this species.
(Just et al. 2014)
