Cryptolaria pectinata ( Allman, 1888 )

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 20-21

Cryptolaria pectinata ( Allman, 1888)

Fig. 5f

Perisiphonia pectinata Allman, 1888: 45 , pl. 21, figs. 2, 2a–b.

Type locality. New Zealand: Challenger Station 169 (37°34’S, 179°22’E) ( Allman 1888) .

Voucher material. Off St. Lucie Inlet, 27°11.8’N, 79°57.3’W, 87 m, 04.x.1986, Johnson-Sea-Link, J028/JSL 2132, one colony, 2.5 cm high, without coppiniae, coll. R. Roesch, ROMIZ B1120 .

Remarks. This species was first reported in the western Atlantic, as Eucryptolaria pinnata Fraser, 1938 (type locality: Galápagos Islands), by Fraser (1943). Following examination of its type material, E. pinnata was included in the synonymy of Cryptolaria pectinata ( Allman, 1888) by Calder et al. (2009). The monotypic genus Eucryptolaria Fraser, 1938 had been referred earlier to Cryptolaria Busk, 1857 by Rees & Vervoort (1987).

Evidence from recent cladistic ( Marques et al. 2006) and molecular ( Moura et al. 2012) studies demonstrate that Cryptolaria should be assigned to the same family-group cluster as Zygophylax Quelch, 1885 and Abietinella Levinsen, 1913 . Moura et al. also contended that Zygophylacinae Quelch, 1885, usually included as a subfamily within Lafoeidae A. Agassiz, 1865 for this group of genera, merited recognition as a distinct family. Their recommendation is adopted here. Moreover, they also found evidence of cryptic diversity within eastern Atlantic populations of Cryptolaria pectinata . Comparisons of hydroids assigned to C. pectinata from the western Atlantic with those from the type locality of New Zealand, and elsewhere, appear warranted.

The hydroid examined here was collected at a depth of 87 m near the edge of the continental shelf, east of St. Lucie Inlet. No coenosarc or hydranths were present, and the colony appeared to be recently dead.

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. First record.

Western Atlantic. Cape Fear, North Carolina ( Henry et al. 2008) to the Caribbean Sea ( Fraser 1943, as Eucryptolaria pinnata ) and Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009).

Elsewhere. Circumglobal at lower latitudes in deeper waters (49–1280 m) ( Vervoort & Watson 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 5. a, Hebella venusta: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1097, scale equals 0.20 mm. b, Hebella sp.: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1132, scale equals 0.25 mm. c, Hebellopsis communis: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1100, scale equals 0.10 mm. d, Hebellopsis gigas: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1082, scale equals 0.25 mm. e, Hebellopsis scandens: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1091, scale equals 0.10 mm. f, Cryptolaria pectinata: distal part of a hydrocladium, ROMIZ B1120, scale equals 0.25 mm.