Orthopyxis asymmetrica Stechow, 1919

Gravili, Cinzia, Vito, Doris De, Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di, Martell, Luis, Piraino, Stefano & Boero, Ferdinando, 2015, The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide, Zootaxa 3908 (1), pp. 1-187 : 157-158

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D6AD2B49-170B-4D9C-84AA-DBE0FEEAD8BE

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6107218

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F887DE-FF6A-FF24-9CD6-0E95D22DFD7E

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Orthopyxis asymmetrica Stechow, 1919
status

 

Orthopyxis asymmetrica Stechow, 1919 View in CoL

Fig. 111 View FIGURE 111

See Peña Cantero & Carrascosa (2002) for a complete synonymy.

Material examined. HCUS-S 118 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).

Description (based on our own observations; Piraino & Morri 1990; Peña Cantero & Carrascosa 2002):

Hydroid. Hydrorhiza as creeping stolon system; colonies stolonal; hydranth pedicels twisted spirally over their whole length and bearing a single distal hydrotheca with a large and slightly asymmetrical basal spherule; basal chamber and hydrotheca with strongly asymmetrical perisarc thickening maximal at base and smoothly decreasing towards aperture. Gonothecae: female gonophores on the hydrorhiza bellshaped, laterally flattened, with short annulated pedicels and orange-coloured eumedusoids with 4 radial canals, and 4–8 interradial statocysts.

Habitat type and substrate. Littoral species reported from near the tidal level to 25 m depth (García Carrascosa 1981; Gili 1986) on leaves of Posidonia oceanica .

Cnidome. Microbasic mastigophores.

Seasonality. In the Mediterranean Sea colonies occur in February, July ( García-Rubies 1987 as Campanularia asymmetrica ), March, April (De Vito 2006; this study), May ( Piraino & Morri 1990), and September ( Giovannetti et al. 2010).

Reproductive period. May ( Piraino & Morri 1990) in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Distribution. Mediterranean endemic ( Medel & López-González 1996; Bouillon et al. 2004; Gravili et al. 2008a; Soto Ãngel & Peña Cantero 2013).

Records in Salento. Rare at Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006; Gravili et al. 2008a; this study), and Porto Cesareo ( Andreano 2007).

Remarks. Cornelius (1982) considered Campanularia asymmetrica as conspecific with Orthopyxis integra . Moreover, Östman et al. (1987) did not find distinct differences in the cnidome of both species. Nevertheless, Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa (2002) and many authors studying Mediterranean material keep the two species distinct.

References. Picard (1952, 1958a), Relini et al. (1977), Repetto et al. (1977), Boero (1981a, b), Fresi et al. (1982), Boero et al. (1985) all as Campanularia asymmetrica View in CoL ; Gili (1986), Garcia Rubies (1987, 1992), Roca (1987), Piraino & Morri (1990), Hughes et al. (1991), Medel & López-González (1996), Piraino et al. (1999), Bouillon et al. (2004), De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006), Gravili et al. (2008a), Giovannetti et al. (2010).

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