• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.197-200
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• 2011

Tunicates were collected from three harbors (Gampo, Bangeojin, Daebyeon) in Gyeongsangnam-do and one harbor (Seogwipo) in Jejudo Island during the period from August 2008 to January 2011 and were identified on the basis of their morphological characteristics. Among them, colonial tunicate Clavelina lepadiformis (Muller, 1776) belonging to the family Clavelinidae was found to be an invasive alien species introduced from the North Atlantic, and this is the first record of its occurrence in Korea.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.358-361
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• 2021

The genus Rhopalaea Philippi, 1843 is firstly recorded as a Korean fauna. It is distinct from other genera of Diazonidae in order Aplousobranchia by having solitary individuals or at most two embedded in a common test. Solitary ascidian, Rhopalaea crassa (Herdman, 1880), is also newly reported from Korean waters. Rhopalaea crassa has a club-shaped body, developed thorax, a vertical gut loop and yellow patches in transparent test. Specimens of R. crassa examined in this study were collected from the subtidal zone of Jeju-do Island by scuba diving. In this paper, detailed descriptions and photographs of specimens and living forms of R. crassa are provided.

• Animal cells and systems
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.359-363
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• 1999

Urochordates, the most primitive group in phylum Chordata, are mostly sessile as adults although some are free living. Presently, the ancestral stock of urochordates as weir as chordates has been the focus of interest and two conflicting hypotheses have been presented. A free swimming ancestor is one and a sessile, filter feeding ancestor is the other. To clarify the phylogenetic relationships within the urochordates, 22 urochordates and five others as outgroups were used. And we applied neighbor joining, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony methods to partial 18S rDNA sequences. The inferred phylogeny in all analyses indicates that order Aplousobranchia of class Ascidiacea appears to be the most ancestral group among urochordates. But it is not clear for the low bootstrap value. The remaining two orders of ascidians, Phlebobranchia and Stolidobranchia, form monophyletic groups respectively, which are well supported by high bootstrap values. These two orders are closer to classes of Thaliacea and Appendicularia than to the Aplousobranchia. While class Appendicularia is strongly supported by the monophyletic group, the phylogenetic position of class Thaliacea is unclear in this study.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.60-62
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• 2016

A colonial ascidian, Synoicum clavatum has previously been reported from Japan. Here, we provide detailed descriptions and illustrations of S. clavatum as the first record in Korea. Synoicum clavatum is characterized by club-shaped colonies with oval head and elongate stalk, circular cloacal systems, a branchial sac with 14-16 stigmata rows of 10-17 stigmata per row and a stomach with smooth surface. The specimens of S. clavatum were collected in the subtidal zone (15-25 m depth) at Beomseom and Mumseom in Jeju-do while SCUBA diving from 2000 to 2014.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2015

Colonial ascidians, Clavelina elegans (Oka, 1927) and Clavelina miniata Watanabe & Tokioka, 1973 are reported for the first time in Korean waters. As a result of this study, three species of the genus Clavelina are now recorded in Korean fauna. Clavelina elegans and C. miniata have been reported only from Japan. We expanded the distribution range of these species to Korea. The specimens of C. elegans and C. miniata were collected from the subtidal zone of Beomseom and Chagwido in Jeju-do by SCUBA diving. Detailed descriptions, illustrations and photographs of these species are provided in this paper.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.102-107
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• 2024

Two colonial ascidians, Eudistoma glaucum and Eudistoma purpureum, are reported for the first time in Korean waters through taxonomic study on ascidians collected from a subtidal zone of Jejudo Island. Eudistoma glaucum is distinguished by opaque green color of colony in living, massive colony with large corona, smooth surface of corona, sparse sand only at the peduncle, zooids in circle, about 8-10 stigmata of 3 stigmata rows and test process. Eudistoma purpureum is distinguished by brilliant, opaque, purple color of colony in living, less lobed colony form, smooth shiny surface, sparse sand only at the basal test, absence of symbionts, zooids in circle, no distinct bulging sphincter in siphon, long atrial siphon and about 20 stigmata of 3 stigmata rows. As a result of this study, four species of the genus Eudistoma are now recorded in Korean fauna.