Note

Narrowteuthis nesisi: Description Continued

Michael Vecchione and Richard E. Young
  1. Arms
    1. Arms weak with thin sheath of muscle around a gelatinous core.
    2. Arm formula: IV>III>II>I. Arms IV > ML.
    3. Protective membranes damaged, little remains.
    4. Buccal connectives attach to dorsal margins of arms IV.
  2. Tentacles
    1. Club protective membranes small, inconspicuous with trabeculae barely discernable.
    2. Locking apparatus:
      1. 10-11 suckers in a line along dorsal margin of proximal-manus (see photograph below).
      2. 5-6 suckers in carpal region at base of manus; 1-2 distal suckers in carpus much smaller than the others.
      3. 7-8 suckers widely strung along distal half or more of tentacular stalk.
      4. Suckers have corresponding knobs.
      5. Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
        Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

        Figure. Oral view of the tentacle of N. nesisi, holotype, showing proximal portion of the manus, the carpal locking apparatus and two of the locking suckers of the tentacular stalk. Photograph by R. Young.

    3. Manus:
      1. Proximal-manus short, expanded and with numerous small suckers that are laterally folded.
      2. suckers arranged in irregular series with about 12-14 suckers across broadest portion of manus.
      3. About 25-35 suckers along length of manus.
      4. Distal suckers (of proximal-manus slightly smaller (ca. 0.4mm long diam.) than proximal suckers (ca. 0.5 mm long diam.).
      5. Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
        Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

        Figure. Oral view of the tentacular club of N. nesisi, showing the distal portion of the proximal manus and the abreviated distal manus that shortly merges into the dactylus. Locking suckers and knobs of the manus are seen along the dorsal margin. Detached tentacle, presumably from holotype. Photograph by R. Young.

    4. Dactylus:
      1. Dactylus with neck-like distal portion and expanded terminal pad.
      2. Suckers in 4-5 irregular series on proximal end of distal manus becoming 4 series on dactylus 1-2 series on neck-like region of dactylus.
      3. Terminal pad with 6-8 suckers of varying sizes forming a circle or partial circle around a central bare space.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Oral views of the distal portions of the tentacular club of N. nesisi. Left - Dactylus and distal manus. Right - Tip of the dactylus and terminal pad. Detached tentacle, presumably from holotype. Photograph by R. Young.

  3. Funnel
    1. Funnel-mantle locking apparatus with straight groove and ridge.
  4. Gladius
    1. Morphometrics from Toll (1982): Gladius length - 111.7 mm; free rhachis length - 9.9 mm; free rhachis width - 3.4 mm; maximum gladius width (across vanes) - 8.2 mm; conus length - 3.0 mm.
  5. Pigmentation
    1. No pigment remains.
    2. Remnants of a thick, whitish tissue present on aboral surfaces of arms and head and traces on mantle.
    3. Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Dorsolateral view of the arms of N. nesisi, holotype. Remnants of the whitish (= silvery in life?) tissue is present on the outer surfaces of the arms. The arm with a right-angle bend is the right arm II which shows the whitish tissue most clearly; adjacent to it are the two small  arms I then the large left arms II and III. Photograph by R. Young.

  6. Measurements
  7. Specimen Holotype
    NMNH 730704
    Paratype
    NMNH 7075115
    Sex Male --
    Mantle length, mm 100 --
    Mantle width 18 --
    Head length 23  
    Head width 18 (estimate)  
    Arm length I, Left / Right ? / 41  
    Arm length II ? / 79  
    Arm length III 98+ / 100  
    Arm length IV 123 / 135  
    Club length -- / 20  

Comments

The beaks had been removed by an earlier investigator.

References

Toll, R.B. 1982. The comparative morphology of the gladius in the Order Teuthoidea (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) in relation to systematics and phylogeny. PhD. Dissertation, University of Miami, 390 pp.

Young, R. E. and M. Vecchione. 2005. Narrowteuthis nesisi, a new genus and new species of the squid family Neoteuthidae (Mollusca; Cephalopoda). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 118 (3): 566-569.

About This Page


National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C. , USA


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

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