Two new species of Diplosoma (Ascidiacea: Didemnidae) bearing prokaryotic algae Prochloron from Okinawajima (Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan)

Two new species of didemnid ascidians, Diplosoma ooru sp. nov. and Diplosoma simileguwa sp. nov., are described from coral reefs on Okinawajima (Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan). These two species form green colonies, having a symbiotic association with a prokaryotic alga Prochloron sp. The former species was found at the reef edges in the subtidal zone and the latter was found in a shallow reef lagoon. In these species, the colonies are thinner and the zooids are smaller than those of any other Prochloron-bearing Diplosoma species so far described. Moreover, each of the present new species has a unique combination of stigmatic numbers: 5 stigmata in the first and third rows, 6 in the second row, and 4 in the fourth in D. ooru; 4 stigmata in the first and third rows, 5 in the second row, and 3 in the fourth in D. simileguwa. In both of the new species, the retractor muscle emerges from the underside of the thorax. Larval morphology of D. ooru is also described.