New records of deep-water ascidians (Ascidiacea: Stolidobranchia) from the Arctic Ocean, with comments on nomenclature and taxonomy

K.E. Sanamyan, N.P. Sanamyan & O.L. Zimina

Abstract. Three species of stolidobranch ascidians, Asajirus arcticus (Hartmeyer, 1923), Eugyrioides pedunculatus (Traustedt, 1886), comb. nov., and Kukenthalia borealis Hartmeyer, 1903 are recorded from the deep waters of the Arctic Ocean for the first time and are briefly described based on new material. The nomenclature of the involved ascidian taxa is discussed. It is shown that Eugyra Hancock, 1870 (Ascidiacea) is preoccupied by Eugyra Fromentel, 1857 (Anthozoa) and that the valid generic name for ascidians currently assigned to Eugyra is Eugyrioides Seeliger, 1907. The currently accepted subfamily name Polyzoinae Michaelsen, 1900 is invalid, as it is a junior synonym of Polystyelinae Herdman, 1886.
Key words: taxonomy, nomenclature, biodiversity, Arctic, abyssal, Ascidiacea, Polystyelidae, Polyzoinae, Eugyra, Eugyrioides, new combination

Zoosystematica Rossica, 2025, 34(1): 118–127  ▪  Published online 11 April 2025


https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2025.34.1.118  ▪  Open full article  

References

Ärnbäck C.L. 1921. On the reproductive organs of the ascidian Kukenthalia borealis (Gottschaldt). Proceedings of the ceneral Meetings for scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London, 2: 187–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1921.tb03258.x

Baron-Szabo R.C., Hamedani A. & Senowbari-Daryan B. 2003. Scleractinian corals from lower cretaceous deposits north of Esfahan (central Iran). Facies, 48: 199–215. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02667539

Dubois A., Ohler A. & Pyron R.A. 2021. New concepts and methods for phylogenetic taxonomy and nomenclature in zoology, exemplified by a new ranked cladonomy of recent amphibians (Lissamphibia). Megataxa, 5(1): 1–738. https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.5.1.1

Fromentel E. 1857. Polypiers de l’étage néocomien. Bulletin de la Société des Sciences historiques et naturelles de l’Yonne, 11 : 212–285.

Gottschaldt R. 1894. Die Synascidien der Bremen Expedition nach Spitzbergen im Jahre 1889. Jenaische Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaft, 28: 343–368.

Hancock A. 1870. On the larval state of Molgula; with descriptions of several new species of simple ascidians. The Annals and Magazine of natural History, 4(6): 353–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937008696269

Harant H. & Vernières P. 1933. Tuniciers. Fasc. 1. Ascidies. In: Beauchamp P. & Chopard L. (Eds). Faune de France, 27(1). Tuniciers, Ascidies: 1–101. Paris: Paul Lechevalier.

Hartmeyer R. 1903. Die Ascidien der Arktis. In: Romer F. & Schaudin F. (Eds). Fauna Arctica. Eine Zusammenstellung der arktischen Tierformen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Spitzbergen-Gebietes auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Deutschen Expedition in das Nördliche Eismeer im Jahre 1898, 3(2): 93–412. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

Hartmeyer R. 1923. Ascidiacea. Part 1. In: The Danish Ingolf–Expedition, 2(6): 1–368. Copenhagen: Bianco Luno.

Hartmeyer R. 1924. Ascidiacea. Part 2. In: The Danish Ingolf–Expedition, 2(7): 1–275. Copenhagen: Bianco Luno.

Herdman W.A. 1886. Report on the Tunicata collected during the years 1873–1876. Part 2, Ascidiae compositae. Report on the scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger”, 1873–1876. Zoology, 14(38): 1–425.

ICZN – International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth edition adopted by the International Union of Biological Sciences. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. xxix + 306 p.

Kott P. 1969. Antarctic Ascidiacea. Antarctic Research Series, 13: 1–239.

Kott P. 1985. The Australian Ascidiacea. Part 1, Phlebobranchia and Stolidobranchia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 23: 1–440.

Kott P. 1989. The family Hexacrobylidae Seeliger, 1906 (Ascidiacea, Tunicata). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum,27(2): 517–534.

Kott P. 1992. The Australian Ascidiacea. Supplement 2. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 32(2): 621–655.

Kott P. 1998. Tunicata. In: Wells A. & Houston W.W.K. (Eds). Zoological catalogue of Australia, 34. Hemichordata, Tunicata, Cephalochordata: 51–252. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.

Lützen J. 1959. Sessile Tunicata (Ascidiacea). Meddelelser om Grønland, 81(3): 1–49.

Michaelsen W. 1900. Die holosomen Ascidien des magalhaenisch-südgeorgischen Gebietes. Zoologica, 12(31): 1–148.

Michaelsen W. 1907. Tunicaten. In: Ergebnisse der Hamburger Magalhaensischen Sammelreise, 1892/1893, 1. Allgemeines, Chordonier, Echinodermen und Coelenteraten: 1–84. Hamburg: L. Friederichsen & Co.

Michaelsen W. 1915. Tunicata. In: Michaelsen W. (Ed.). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Meeresfauna Westafrikas, 1: 312–518. Hamburg: L. Friederichsen & Co. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11824

Millar R.H. 1959. Ascidiacea. In: Bruun A.F., Captain Sv.G. & Spärck R. (Eds). Galathea Report, 1. Scientific results of the Danish Deep-Sea Expedition round the World 1950–52: 189–209. Copenhagen: Nordlundes Bogtrykkeri.

Millar R.H. 1966. Tunicata Ascidiacea. Marine invertebrates of Scandinavia, 1: 1–123. Oslo: Scandinavian University Book.

Millar R.H. 1970. Ascidians, including specimens from the deep sea, collected by R.V. “Vema” and now in the American Museum of Natural History. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 49: 99–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1970.tb00732.x

Monniot C. 1969. Ascidies récoltées par la “Thalassa” sur la pente continentale du golfe de Gascogne: (3–12 aout 1967). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 2 série, 41(1): 155–186.

Monniot C. 1997. Tuniciers abyssaux de l’Atlantique oriental tropical récoltes par les campagnes EUMELI. Cahiers de biologie marine, 38: 19–27.

Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1968. Les ascidies de grandes profondeurs récoltées par le navire océanographique
American Atlantis 2 (Première note). Bulletin de l’Institut océanographique de Monaco, 67(1379) : 1–48.

Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1990. Revision of the class Sorberacea (benthic tunicates) with descriptions of seven new species. Zoological Journal of Linnean Society, 99(3): 239–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1990.tb00562.x

Monniot C. & Monniot F. 1994. Ascidians collected in the Weddell Sea by the RV “Polarstern” (EPOS cruise leg 3). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 4 série, 16(1): 13–37.

Monniot C., Monniot F., Griffiths C.L. & Schleyer M. 2001. South African ascidians. Annals of the South African Museum, 108(1): 1–141.

Monniot F. 2016. Ascidians (Tunicata) of the French Guiana Expedition. Zootaxa, 4114 (3): 201–245. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4114.3.1

Nishikawa T. 1991. The ascidians of the Japan Sea 2. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 35(1/3): 25–170. https://doi.org/10.5134/176172

Oka A. 1915. Report upon the Tunicata in the collection of the Indian Museum. Memoirs of the Indian Museum, 6(1): 1–33.

Redikorzev V. 1907. Die Ascidien der russischen Polarexpedition 1900–1903. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 31(17, 18): 521–525.

Redikorzev V. 1908. Die Ascidien des Sibirischen Eismeeres. Mémoires de l’Académie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg. Classe physico-mathématique, VIIIe série, 18(11): 1–59.

Redikorzev V. 1916a. Obolochniki [Tunicates] (Tunicata), 1. In: Nasonov N.V. (Ed.). Fauna Rossii i sopredel’nykh stran preimushchestvenno po kollek­tsiyam Zoologicheskogo muzeya Imperatorskoy Akademii nauk [Fauna of Russia and adjacent countries, basing mainly on collections of the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences]. Petrograd: A. Benke. 339 p. (In Russian, with Latin diagnoses).

Redikorzev V. 1916b. A new species of the genus Diandrocarpa. Annuaire du Musée zoologique de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 21 : 31–33.

Redikorzev V. 1941. I. Astsidii dal’nevostochnykh morey SSSR [I. Ascidians of the Far Eastern seas of the USSR]. In: Derjugin K.M. & Sernov S.A. (Eds). Issledovaniya dal’nevostochnykh morey SSSR [Investigations of the Far Eastern seas of the USSR], 1: 164–212. Moscow – Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences. (In Russian, with German descriptions).

Sanamyan K. 2000. Ascidians from the North-Western Pacific region. 7. Styelidae. Ophelia, 53(1): 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/00785326.2000.10409436

Sanamyan K. & Sanamyan N. 2006. Deep-water ascidians (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) from the northern and western Pacific. Journal of natural History, 40(5–6): 307–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930600628416

Tatián M., Lagger C., Demarchi M. & Mattoni C. 2011. Molecular phylogeny endorses the relationship between carnivorous and filter-feeding tunicates (Tunicata, Ascidiacea). Zoologica scripta, 40: 603–612.

Tokioka T. 1965. Questions concerning the diagnoses of some ascidian genera. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 11(6): 131–156. https://doi.org/10.5134/175399

Trason W.B. 1964. Ascidians of the Canadian Arctic Waters. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 21(6): 1505–1517. https://doi.org/10.1139/f64-126

Traustedt M.P.A. 1886. Kara-Havets søpunge (Ascidiae Simplices). In: Lütken C.F. (Ed.). Dijmphna-Togtets zoologisk-botaniske Udbytte [The zoological and botanical results of the Dijmphna expedition]: 419–437. Kjøbenhavn: Kommission hos H. Hagerup. (In Danish).

Van Name W.G. 1902. The ascidians of the Bermuda Islands. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 11: 325–412.

Van Name W.G. 1945. The North and South American ascidians. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 84: 1–476.

Volume, Year:
Vol. 34. 2025
Vol. 33. 2024
Vol. 32. 2023
Vol. 31. 2022
Vol. 30. 2021
Vol. 29. 2020
Vol. 28. 2019
Vol. 27. 2018
Vol. 26. 2017
Vol. 25. 2016
Vol. 24. 2015
Vol. 23. 2014
Vol. 22. 2013
Vol. 21. 2012
Vol. 20. 2011
Vol. 19. 2010
Vol. 18. 2009
Vol. 17. 2008
Vol. 16. 2007
Vol. 15. 2006
Vol. 14. 2005
Vol. 13. 2004
Vol. 12. 2003
Vol. 11. 2002
Vol. 10. 2001
Vol. 9. 2000
Vol. 8. 1999
Vol. 7. 1998
Vol. 6. 1997
Vol. 5. 1996
Vol. 4. 1995
Vol. 3. 1994
Vol. 2. 1993
Vol. 1. 1992
Supplementa:
Suppl. 3. 2020
Suppl. 2. 2018