Bohadschia drachi Cherbonnier, 1954: 253; Cherbonnier, 1955: 134, pl. 24, figs a-h; Clark & Rowe, 1971: 176; Daniel & Halder, 1974: 417; Cherbonnier, 1979: 861; Clouse, 1997: 190, fig. 4a-d.
Bohadschia draschi; Humes, 1980: 73, 118; Rowe & Gates, 1995: 288 (lapsus calami)
Type data: EcHh 7106; Abulat Island (Saudi Arabia); 5-7m depth; coll. Calypso Expedition; coll. date unknown; well preserved; well relaxed; ventro-longitudinal dissection; calcareous ring removed from specimen.
Anatomical description: 210 mm long; 33-48 mm wide; bivium arched; trivium distinctly flattened; mouth ventral; anus terminal; dorsal body wall brownish with darker brown spots and thin lines; ventral body grey with brown spots; tentacles black; color dorsal appendages brown; ventral tube feet brown; dorsal appendages dispersed all over bivium, but mainly in ambulacra; ventral tube in distinct rows along the ambulacra; bivium and trivium not separated by lateral fringe of appendages; body wall ± 6 mm thick, smooth to the touch; 23 tentacles counted; radial plates with slightly convex posterior side; interradial plates ½ the width of radial ones; length radial plates equal to interradial ones; number and size of tentacle ampullae could not be determined; number and size of Polian vesicle(s) could not be determined; number and size of stone canal(s) could not be determined; longitudinal muscles bifid, wide, free at edges; respiratory trees longer than half of body length; cloaca 4 mm long; Cuvierian tubules present.
Ossicle description: tentacles with plate-like rosettes; dorsal body wall with rosettes and pseudotables; ventral body wall with rosettes and peudotables; dorsal appendages with rosettes and pseudotables; ventral tube feet with rosettes and pseudotables; longitudinal muscles with smooth rods; cloacal retractor muscles with smooth rods, bifurcating distally; gonad with slightly rugose branching rods; cloaca with bifurcating rods; respiratory tree with perforated plates; ossicle assemblage of gut and rete mirabile not determined.
Known distribution: Red Sea: Ibulat Island (type locality), Aqaba; Nosi Be (Madagascar).
Taxonomic decision: B. drachi Cherbonnier, 1954 is the senior objective synonym of B. drachi Cherbonnier, 1955 (see remarks) and is here confirmed to be the junior subjective synonym of Pearsonothuria graeffei (Semper, 1868) (based on comparison of available types of both synonyms).
Remarks: Cherbonnier introduced the name Bohadschia drachi twice; once in 1954 and once in 1955 and this twice deliberately (indicated ‘nov. sp.’) to indicate a new species. However the description he gave was each time based on the same (unique) holotype coming from Ibulat Island. Bohadschia drachi Cherbonnier, 1954 is thus the senior objective synonym of B. drachi Cherbonnier, 1955.
For original description click here.
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