Memoirs of Museum Victoria 68: 37-65 (2011) 
ISSN 1447-2546 (Print) 1447-2554 (On-line) 
http:// museum.com.au/About/Books-and-Journals/Journals/Memoirs-of-Museum-'Victoria 
The paracaudinid sea cucumbers of Australia and New Zealand (Echinodermata: 
Holothuroidea: Molpadida: Caudinidae) 
P Mark O’Loughlin 1 , Shari Barmos 2 and Didier VandenSpiegel 3 
1 Marine Biology Section, Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia (pmo@bigpond.net.au) 
2 (shari_barmos@hotmail.com) 
3 Musee royal de l’Afrique centrale. Section invertebres non-insects, B-3080, Tervuren, Belgium (dvdspiegel@ 
africamuseum.be) 
Abstract O’Loughlin, P. M., Barmos, S. and VandenSpiegel, D. 2011. The paracaudinid sea cucumbers of Australia and New 
Zealand (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Molpadida: Caudinidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 68: 37-65 
The four Paracaudina Heding species reported in Australia are reviewed: Paracaudina australis (Semper); 
Paracaudina chilensis (Muller); Paracaudina luticola Hickman; Paracaudina tetrapora (H. L. Clark). The New Zealand 
species Paracaudina coriacea (Hutton) is raised out of synonymy with the Chilean species Paracaudina chilensis 
(Muller). Both Paracaudina chilensis (Miiller) and Paracaudina coriacea (Hutton) occur in New Zealand. The synonymy 
of the Chinese and Japanese species Paracaudina ransonnetii (Marenzeller) with Paracaudina chilensis (Muller) is 
maintained. Five new Caudinidae species are erected for Australia, with authors O’Loughlin and Barmos: Paracaudina 
ambigua, Paracaudina bacillis, Paracaudina cuprea, Paracaudina keablei, Paracaudina tripoda. A key is provided for 
Paracaudina species in Australia and New Zealand. 
Keywords Sea cucumber, Molpadida, Caudinidae, Paracaudina , new species, synonymies, Australia, New Zealand, key. 
Introduction 
Museum Victoria holds numerous specimens of Caudinidae 
sea cucumbers, most specimens collected from Victorian 
beaches after storms. Rowe 1982 recorded a “ Paracaudina 
sp.” from Port Phillip Bay in Victoria and southern Western 
Australia. This species is represented by numerous specimens 
from southern Australian waters, and we erect a new species. 
We have examined collections of Paracaudina Heding, 1932 
from the Australian, South Australian, Western Australian 
and New Zealand Museums, and we review all of the species 
of this genus in Australian and New Zealand waters. As an 
outcome of this review we erect five new species of 
Paracaudina. Our systematic study is based on traditional 
morphological characters as there are to date no adequate 
molecular genetic data. 
Four potential Australian and New Zealand species of 
Paracaudina have been intensively studied: Paracaudina 
australis (Semper, 1868) with type locality Australia; 
Paracaudina chilensis (Muller, 1850) with type locality Chile; 
Paracaudina coriacea (Hutton, 1872) with type locality New 
Zealand; Paracaudina ransonnetii (Marenzeller, 1881) with 
type locality China. Their morphology and systematic status 
have been researched and debated by numerous authors: Theel 
1886; H. L. Clark 1908, 1935; Mortensen 1925; Hozawa 1928; 
Ohshima 1929; Heding 1931, 1933; Pawson 1963; Pawson and 
Liao 1992. Most recently Pawson 1963 has summarised what 
has been debated, and agreed with the authors who considered 
P. coriacea (Hutton) to be a junior synonym of P. chilensis 
(Muller). We reject this synonymy, judging that Paracaudina 
coriacea (Hutton) is a good species. But at the same time we 
have found that Paracaudina chilensis (Muller) also occurs in 
New Zealand waters, and one or possibly more undescribed 
Paracaudina species. A comprehensive review of the many 
Paracaudina specimens held in New Zealand will follow this 
work. In reporting on the molpadid sea cucumbers of China, 
Pawson and Liao 1992 agreed with the synonymy of the China 
and Japan species P. ransonnetii (Marenzeller) with P. 
chilensis (Muller). We agree with this synonymy. However, we 
note that some of these species distributions are such that 
molecular genetic data may reveal that some of these species 
are paraphyletic. 
Our experience of looking at a range of material leads us 
to agree with H. L. Clark 1935 that there is considerable 
variation in morphological form amongst Paracaudina 
specimens that are conspecific, including ossicle form. And 
we agree also that, although there is considerable variation in 
ossicle form in the same and conspecific specimens, 
predominant ossicle form does provide a reliable guide to 
species identity. 
