Lanceophora

Thandar, Ahmed S., Zettler, Michael L. & Arumugam, Preyan, 2010, Additions to the sea cucumber fauna of Namibia and Angola, with descriptions of new taxa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Zootaxa 2655, pp. 1-24 : 14

Genus Lanceophora n. g.

Etymology. The name is derived from lancea L. – lance and phora Gk.- bearing, with reference to the lancelike deposits of the body wall.

Diagnosis. Small (up to 27 mm) cucumariid holothuroids with a slightly curved barrel-shaped body, tentacles 10, two ventral tentacles reduced or absent; tube feet restricted to ambulacra in 1–2 rows, interambulacra naked. Calcareous ring simple, no posterior prolongations to the radial plates; body wall deposits a superficial layer comprising a smooth to knobbed basal part bearing a long lance-like projection held in the same plane as the basal part, and an inner layer of large, smooth to knobbed multilocular plates.

Type species. Cucumaria souriei Cherbonnier, 1949a (here designated)

Other species included. L. lanceolata n. sp.

Remarks. A new genus is here erected to accommodate only the type species and the new species described below. Lanceophora comes very close to Panningia but differs from it in the presence of a barrelshaped rather than a U-shaped body form, reduced ventral tentacles, lack of any posterior prolongations to the radial plates of the calcareous ring, and that the lance-like prolongation of the superficial deposits is not held at an angle to the main body of the ossicle but in the same plane. C. souriei is chosen as the type species since the new species may prove to be conspecific with it. Although Cherbonnier (1963) did compare his Panningia crosnieri with C. souriei he did not refer the latter species to Panningia but let it stand as originally described.