Holothuria ( Holothuria ) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Prata, Jéssica, Manso, Cynthia L. C. & Christoffersen, Martin L., 2014, Aspidochirotida (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from the northeast coast of Brazil, Zootaxa 3889 (1), pp. 127-150 : 142-143

Holothuria ( Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Holothuria stellati dakarensis Panning, 1939 .

Holothuria ( Holothuria) dakarensis .― Pawson & Shirley, 1977: 915; Prata et al., 2014: 2 .

Material examined. Diogo Lopes Beach, Macau, RN, Brazil, 1 spec. ( UFPB.ECH-2158).

Type locality. Dakar, Senegal ( Panning 1939).

Diagnosis and description. See Prata et al. (2014: 2).

Geographical distribution. United States (North Carolina, Georgia, Gulf of Mexico), Brazil (Rio Grande do Norte), Senegal, Angola ( Pawson et al. 2010; Prata et al. 2014), up to 14 m deep.

Comments. This is the only species of the subgenus recorded for the Western Atlantic. Holothuria ( Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939 seems to form a species complex with Holothuria ( H.) stellati Delle Chiaje, 1824 , Holothuria ( H.) tubulosa Gmelin, 1791 , and Holothuria ( H.) mammata Grube, 1840 . According to Borrero- Pérez et al. (2009), H. ( H.) tubulosa , H. ( H.) mammata , and H. ( H.) dakarensis may represent valid species after their morphological and molecular analyses, but further studies are necessary to clarify the status of these species.

Ecological note. Buried in sand and algae.