Thouarella (Epithouarella) viridis Zapata-Guardiola & Lopez-González, 2010

Schejter, L., Genzano, G., Pérez, C. D., Acuña, F., Cordeiro, R. T. S., Silva, R. A., Garese, A. & Bremec, C. S., 2020, Checklist of Benthic Cnidaria in the SW Atlantic Ocean (54 ºS- 56 ºS), Zootaxa 4878 (2), pp. 201-239 : 225

Thouarella (Epithouarella) viridis Zapata-Guardiola & Lopez-González, 2010

Material examined: BBB 2016: St. 18.

Distribution: From South Georgia Island area (53º23’S, 42º42´W, 312–321 m; 54º24´S, 35º36´W, 278–279 m) and south east of Malvinas Islands, Burdwood bank (54°30´S, 56°08´W, 286–291 m) (Zapata Guardiola & López-González 2010a); Sars Seamount (59°42´S, 68°49´W, 520 m); Shackleton Fracture Zone (59°19.5S, 60°06.25W, 2295 m), off Cape Horn (57°00.33S, 67°35.1W, 450 m, 57°13.81S, 67°02.32W, 1100 m); Burdwood bank (54°31´S, 62°11´W, 330 m); Elephant Island (61°15´S, 56°24´W, 450 m) (as Thouarella cf. viridis ) ( Auscavitch & Waller 2017); South Georgia (54˚30’S, 39˚20’W, 659– 686 m), Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (54˚22’S, 64˚42’W, 106–110 m), Patagonian Shelf (42˚52’S, 58˚38’W, 1200 m), Malvinas Islands (52˚40’S, 60˚39’W, 405 m), Burdwood bank (54˚57’S, 56˚54’W, 500 m) ( Taylor et al. 2013); Burdwood bank (607 m) (present study).

Remarks: Zapata Guardiola & López-González (2010a) pointed that T. viridis resembles polyps of the genus Amphilaphis due to the prominent apical keel on the inner surface of the opercular scales. However, the branching pattern and the reduction in size of the basal body scales allocate this species among the Thouarella species, in which the presence of keels on the inner surface of operculars has been also documented.