Short communications: First records of the echiurans Anelassorhynchus inanensis (Ikeda, 1904) and Ochetostoma pellucidum (Fischer, 1895) from the east coast of southern Africa (Echiuroinea: Echiuridae)

Abstract

Two species of echiurans (Echiura), Anelassorhynchus inanensis (Ikeda, 1904) and  Ochetostoma pellucidum (Fischer, 1895), were collected from intertidal rocky shores at Perriers Rock on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. This is the first known record of these two species from South African waters and considerably extends their  geographical ranges. A. inanensis, originally described by Ikeda (1904) from Naha, Japan, was later recorded and redescribed by Wesenberg- Lund (1939) from a single specimen from South Annam while Haldar & DattaGupta (1991) assigned two specimens from Kavaratti Island, on the southwest coast of India, to the species. O. pellucidum is based on several specimens collected from Whydah, West Africa. According to Stephen & Edmonds (1972) no illustrations of this species have been given while the description given by Wesenberg-Lund (1954) is based on a single badly-preserved specimen from French Guinea. Both species are redescribed and compared with other closely related forms.

Key words: new records, echiurans, Anelassorhynchus inanensis, Ochetostoma pellucidum, South Africa.