Molpadiodemas Heding, 1935

O'Loughlin, P. Mark & Ahearn, Cynthia, 2005, A review of pygal-furrowed Synallactidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), with new species from the Antarctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2), pp. 147-179 : 151-153

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.5
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/116087F5-FFAC-FFE6-FF3D-7EA8FE0C1CD3
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Molpadiodemas Heding, 1935
status

Treatment

Molpadiodemas Heding, 1935 View in CoL

Table 1, Figure 2 View Figure 2

Molpadiodemas Heding, 1935: 77–78 View in CoL .— Heding, 1940: 356–357.—

Deichmann, 1940: 209–211.— O'Loughlin, 1998: 497.— O'Loughlin,

2002: 303, 305, 315. Platystichopus Heding, 1940: 358 (new synonym).

Type species. Molpadiodemas acaudum Heding, 1935 (junior synonym of Pseudostichopus atlanticus Perrier, 1898 , by O'Loughlin, 2002).

Other included species. Molpadiodemas atlanticus ( Perrier, 1898) ; M. constrictus sp. nov.; M. crinitus sp. nov.; M. depressus ( Hérouard, 1902) ; M. epibiotus sp. nov.; M. helios sp. nov.; M. involutus (Sluiter, 1901) ; M. morbillus sp. nov.; M. neovillosus sp. nov.; M. pediculus sp. nov.; M. porphyrus sp. nov.; M. pustulosus (Sluiter, 1901) ; M. translucens sp. nov.; M. ustultus sp. nov.; M. villosus ( Théel, 1886) ; M. violaceus ( Théel, 1886) .

Diagnosis. Pygal-furrowed Synallactidae displaying: absence of prominent appendages (tube feet, papillae) along the paired radii; longitudinal muscles flat, not cylindrical, broadly attached to the inner body wall; gonad tubules branched, arising from a common base on the gonoduct, not in series along the gonoduct; ossicles never present in tube feet; tentacle ossicles frequently rods with ends intertwining and side branches fused to create mesh.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan; 103–7086 m.

Remarks. Heding (1935) erected the monotypic genus Molpadiodemas for his new species acaudum , and subsequently ( Heding, 1940) reassigned Pseudostichopus atlanticus Perrier , P. occultatus Marenzeller and P. villosus Théel to Molpadiodemas . O'Loughlin (1998) reassigned these four species to Meseres Ludwig, 1894 , Molpadiodemas becoming a junior synonym of Meseres . Molpadiodemas is raised here out of synonymy with Meseres (see below under Meseres ). O'Loughlin (2002) considered M. acaudum to be a junior synonym of P. atlanticus , and that decision is confirmed here. Heding (1940) erected the new genus Platystichopus for Pseudostichopus depressus Hérouard, 1902 , which is reassigned below to Molpadiodemas . Platystichopus becomes a junior synonym of Molpadiodemas .