Halodeima stocki Cherbonier, 1964: 202, fig. 1a-z.
Holothuria (Halodeima) stocki; Rowe, 1969: 138.
Type data: EcHh 404; off Parguera, 0,3 miles, Cayo caracolés (Puerto Rico); 30 m depth; coll. J.H. Stock; 1963; well preserved; poorly relaxed; ventro-longitudinal section; part of posterior end cut away.
Anatomical description: 38 mm long; 6.5-9 mm wide; bivium arched; trivium flattened; mouth terminal; anus terminal; dorsal body wall briown; ventral body wall beige to light brown; tentacle color could not be assessed; dorsal appendages brown; ventral tube feet light yellow to beige; dorsal appendages spread regularly over bivium, but mainly along the ambulacra; distribution of tube feet in trivium could not be assessed; bivium and trivium not separated by lateral fringe of appendages; body wall ±1 mm thick, rough to the touch; number of tentacles could not be determined; radial plates with straight posterior side; interradial plates as wide as radial ones; length radial plates twice as long as interradial ones; 1 tentacle ampullaecounted, very short (< 1 mm); Polian vesicle single, long; single stone canal; gonad not observed; longitudinal muscles bifid, wide and very flat, attached at edges; respiratory trees longer than half of body length; cloaca 8 mm long; Cuvierian tubules absent
Ossicle description: ossicle assemblage of the tentacles could not be deterimned, dorsal body wall with tables with reduced disc, four pillars united by a single cross beam and ending in a crown in the form of a Maltese cross; ventral body wall with similar deposits, but on occasion table discs are more complete, with peripheric perforations; dorsal appendages with tables similar to those in the body wall; ventral tube feet with rods, perforated plates and tables similar to those from the body wall; longitudinal and cloacal retractor muscles, cloaca, respiratory tree and gut devoid of ossicles; ossicle assemblage of gonad and rete mirabile not assessed.
Known distribution: Cayo caracolés (Puerto Rico).
Taxonomic decision: valid species belonging to the genus Holothuria, subgenus Halodeima (confirmed after examination of both syntypes).
Remarks: the tissue sampled from the ventral body wall is most possibly contaminated with tissue from the ventral tube feet given that we observed rods and perforated plates; hence the very few tables with more complete disc are possibly stemming from the tube feet. The tentacles have been cut away from the specimen and could not be examined.
Lectotypification is needed, especially since the label gives ‘holotype’ for both specimens The shortest specimen (38 mm; = syntype 1) is best conserved and should be designated lectotype.
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