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Clavelina moluccensis (Sluiter, 1904) Figure 1A #1175, only two zooids, pale blue in formalin, not fully mature, smaller one damaged. Larger one 20 mm in length with the characteristic muscle pattern (anastomosing and branching horizontal/diagonal), and also three dark reddish purple spots (still visible in formalin) between the siphons. Widely distributed in the tropical West Pacific, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Mozambique, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Guam. Detailed descriptions and figures: Kott (1990), Monniot C. (1997a), Monniot F. & Monniot C. (2001). Other references: Van Name (1918), Tokioka (1970), Millar (1975), Lambert (2003), Lee et al. (2016)., Published as part of Lambert, Gretchen, Lee, Serina Siew-Chen & Teo, Serena Lay-Ming, 2021, Ascidians collected during the 2013 Singapore Strait International Marine Biodiversity Workshop, pp. 1-38 in Zootaxa 4933 (1) on pages 2-3, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4933.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4547842, {"references":["Sluiter, C. P. (1904) Die Tunicaten der Siboga-Expedition. Part 1. Die socialen und holosomen Ascidien. Siboga-Expedition, 5 6 a, 1 - 126.","Kott, P (1990) The Australian Ascidiacea part 2, Aplousobranchia (1) and Supplement: Phlebobranchia and Stolidobranchia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 29, 1 - 266.","Van Name, W. G. (1918) Ascidians from the Philippines and adjacent waters. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 100, 49 - 174.","Tokioka, T. (1970) Ascidians from Mindoro Islands, the Philippines. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 18, 75 - 107. https: // doi. org / 10.5134 / 175626","Millar, R. H. (1975) Ascidians from the Indo-West-Pacific region in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen (Tunicata, Ascidiacea). Steenstrupia, 3, 205 - 336.","Lambert, G. (2003) Marine biodiversity of Guam: the Ascidiacea. Micronesica, 35 - 36, 588 - 597.","Lee, S. S. - C., Chan, J. Y-H., Teo, S. L. - M. & Lambert, G. (2016) State of knowledge of ascidian diversity in South China Sea and new records for Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 34, 718 - 743."]}

During the 2013 Singapore Strait International Marine Biodiversity Workshop, hundreds of ascidians were collected along with numerous other marine phyla. Collections were made intertidally as well as subtidally by snorkel, SCUBA, trawling and dredging. While many ascidian specimens remain unidentified, 14 aplousobranchs, nine phlebobranchs and 17 stolidobranchs have been identified; a surprising 50% of these comprise 20 new records for Singapore. An additional new record of the phlebobranch Perophora namei collected from the same area in 2014 and 2015 is included here. Of the 21 new records, Aplidium cf. grisiatum, Distaplia regina, Euherdmania cf. digitata, Cnemidocarpa irene, Monandrocarpa monotestis and Polyandrocarpa rollandi are also first records for the entire South China Sea region.

Clavelina huntsmani Van Name, 1931 Figure 9A IHAK 2 BHAK 0079 UF 2447. Calvert Island, North Beach, east end low intertidal boulder field, shallow Scuba. IHAK 28 BHAK 1690 UF 2517. Calvert Island, Second Beach, snorkel, 5 m. MHAK 7 BHAK 0514 UF 2456. West Beach, boulder field. Small colony, three zooids. An excellent detailed description of this species is given by Van Name (1945), a repeat of his original 1931 description. He was obviously impressed with the zooids, and in describing the prominent dorsal and ventral pink lines in the otherwise transparent thorax of each zooid (Fig. 9A), he stated that they gave ���the colony a very handsome appearance���. According to Van Name (1945) the colonies may comprise up to hundreds of zooids up to about 4 cm in length. Distribution: British Columbia to northern Mexico (Lamb & Hanby 2005, who also include a beautiful photo of a subtidal colony in situ)., Published as part of Lambert, Gretchen, 2019, The Ascidiacea collected during the 2017 British Columbia Hakai MarineGEO BioBlitz, pp. 401-436 in Zootaxa 4657 (3) on page 416, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4657.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3371886, {"references":["Van Name, W. G. (1931) New North and South American ascidians. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 61, 207 - 225.","Van Name, W. G. (1945) The North and South American ascidians. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 84, 1 - 476.","Lamb, A. & Hanby, B. P. (2005) Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest - A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds and Selected Fishes. Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, BC., 398 pp."]}

A three-week intensive marine biodiversity survey was carried out at a small remote region of the central British Columbia coast at and near the Calvert Island Marine Station (Hakai Institute) July 21–August 11, 2017. The survey included daily sampling by the staff and a number of visiting taxonomists with specialties covering all the major groups of invertebrates. Many marine habitats were sampled: rocky and sand/gravel intertidal and tidepools, eelgrass meadows, shallow and deeper subtidal by snorkel and Scuba, plus artificial surfaces including the sides and bottom of the large floating dock at the Institute and settlement plates set out up to a year previously at various subtidal sites. Many new species were recorded by all the taxonomists. In this very biodiverse remote area 36 ascidian species were identified: 18 Aplousobranchia, 7 Phlebobranchia, and 11 Stolidobranchia, comprising a total of 15 solitary and 21 colonial species including two undescribed colonial species. This represents almost one third of all the known North American species from Alaska to southern California in this limited very remote area. Remarkably, only two are possible non-natives. Diplosoma listerianum (Milne-Edwards, 1841), was collected mostly on natural substrates including deeper areas sampled by Scuba, and one colony occurred on a settlement plate. A few Ciona savignyi Herdman, 1882 were collected, two from natural substrates and four from artificial surfaces. There were no botryllids, Styela clava Herdman, 1881, Didemnum vexillum Kott, 2002, or Molgula manhattensis (De Kay, 1843), though these are all common and sometimes very abundant non-natives in other parts of BC and along much of the U.S. west coast. Most of the species encountered are known in northern California, Washington, and southern BC, but only a small number are represented among the few known Alaska species.

This study is the first inventory of ascidians from shallow waters (0–25 m) of coastal and reef habitats in the southern Gulf of Mexico where ascidian diversity is poorly known. Sampled environments in 14 locations (38 sites) with 134 samples collected from 2015 to 2017 included coral reefs, coastal lagoons, mangroves, seagrass, ports, and artificial platforms. The 31 identified species comprise 19 genera and 13 families. Ten species are newly reported in the Gulf of Mexico:AscidiapanamensisBonnet & Rocha, 2011;Ecteinascidiastyeloides(Traustedt, 1882);CystodytesroseolusHartmeyer, 1912; Eudistomaaff.amanitum Paiva & Rocha, 2018;EudistomarecifenseMillar, 1977;EuherdmaniafasciculataMonniot, 1983; Euherdmaniaaff.vitrea Millar, 1961;Polycarpacartilaginea(Sluiter, 1885);Botrylloidesmagnicoecum(Hartmeyer, 1912) andDidemnumgranulatumTokioka, 1954. Two new species will be described separately (Clavelinasp. andPyurasp.). This study provides the first records for 26 species ascidians for the region as well as describes increased distributions of ten Atlantic species. Thus, our data provide a starting point for future ecological, experimental and taxonomic studies of ascidians of the Gulf of Mexico.

Aplousobranchia represents the largest order under the class Ascidiacea. Two reef associated aplousobranch ascidians, Rhopalaea macrothorax Tokioka, 1953 under the family Diazonidae and Clavelina robusta Kott, 1990 under the family Clavelinidae, found from the Andaman group of islands are reported as new records to the Indian waters. The present paper describes the taxonomic characters and distribution of these two newly recorded species.