Thouarella (Thouarella) variabilis Wright & Studer 1889

Thouarella (Thouarella) variabilis Wright & Studer, 1889 Material examined: BBB 2016: St. 16; St. 18. Distribution: Heard Island, 274 m, Prince Edward Island, 567 m, (Wright & Studer 1889); Antarctic, 350– 385m (Kükenthal 1919); Renaud Island, Biscoe Islands, Antarctic Peninsula (65˚30’S, 67˚31’W, 180 m; 76˚00’S, 55˚00’W, 457 m), Antipodes Island, New Zealand, (49˚51’S, 178˚35’E, 2010–2100 m) (Taylor et al. 2013); Burdwood bank (607–1000 m) (present study). Remarks: Synonyms: T. variabilis var. gracilis Wright & Studer, 1889. Thouarella variabilis was addressed in a recent study, testing its potential in paleorecords for changes in environmental conditions (Martinez-Dios et al. 2016). This species is one of the few Antarctic primnoids with some available ecological data in the literature. It was described in terms of its reproductive biology (Brito et al. 1995) and had its feeding behavior related to resuspension processes (Orejas et al. 2000). This is the first record of the species at Burdwood bank and at MPA Namuncurá II.