During a Smithsonian survey of Tampa area ascidians in May 2003 we did not
find any Herdmania spp., even on the barrier islands on the Gulf of Mexico
side, as Tito also mentioned was missing from older collections of the
area. However, we found numerous H. pallida at several sites in the Miami
area during a similar Smithsonian survey in August 2004, and it is known
from SE U.S. Atlantic shores for a number of years. All the samples I have
ever seen are H. pallida. In addition, we found H. pallida during a survey
of South Padre Island near the SW corner of Texas in August 2004, so we
know it is in the Gulf of Mexico if not in the Tampa area.
I agree with P. Mather, there are a number of Herdmania species and one
must be very careful with the identification. The first clue one has that
the species at hand might be H. pallida rather than H. momus is the thick
pale tunic. Then one must check the reproductive structures carefully,
following the diagrams in Kott 2002 as well as two other useful publications:
Nishikawa, T. 2002. Revision of the ascidian genus Herdmania (Urochordata:
Ascidiacea) inhabiting Japanese waters. Species Diversity 7: 217-250.
Monniot, C. 2002. Stolidobranch ascidians from the tropical western Indian
Ocean. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 135: 65-120.
Both of these papers include a detailed comparison of H. momus and H.
pallida with illustrations, plus other Herdmania spp., as does the Kott
2002 paper.
Best wishes, Gretchen Lambert
At 03:08 PM 3/2/2005 -0300, you wrote:
>Dear Noa
>I've been working with the ascidians collected during the Hourglass Cruises
>in the Gulf of Mexico (off Tampa Bay ,Florida), between 1965 e 1968. We have
>not found any Herdmania among the hundreds of lots kept in the Florida
>Marine Research Institute.
>By the way, I think Gretchen Lambert determined that the Atlantic Herdmania
>identified as H. momus are in fact H. pallida.
>Good luck on your study!
>
>Tito
Gretchen Lambert
12001 11th Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98177
tel. 206-365-3734
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http://depts.washington.edu/ascidian/
"Ascidians are back in the limelight, with a good chance of staying there."
-- O. Pourquié, Nature 8 Feb. 2001.
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