Halcurias uchidai, Rodríguez & Lauretta, 2023

Rodríguez, Estefanía & Lauretta, Daniel, 2023, Halcurias uchidai sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Actiniaria): putting a name with a face of a deep-sea anemone and amending a nomenclature lapsus, Zootaxa 5258 (1), pp. 146-150 : 147-149

Halcurias uchidai sp. nov.

Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F310E1BA-FF91-46E4-8DAF-E0FBEF142CBB .

Halcurias pilatus: McMurrich 1898 (misidentification, pag. 227–230); Meyer et al. 2017 (pag. 21, fig. 2S, misidentification).

Halcurias macmurrichi Uchida 2004 (unavailable, no type fixation, pag. 19–20); Fautin 2016 (pag. 12, 298).

Halcurias mcmurrichi: Rodríguez et al. 2013 (spelling change, pag. 5–6); Fautin 2016 (pag. 12).

Anemone: Brooke et al. 2017 (fig. 2D), Bolan et al. 2017 (fig. 7).

Type material. Holotype: AMNH Cat. Cnidaria–5125. One specimen (dissected) plus several histological slides. Little Bahamas Bank lithoherms, Bioluminiscence 2009 cruise, JSLII, Dive –3697: 27°03.4519′N; 77°19.2865′W, 588–619 m, July 2009.

Paratype: AMNH Cat. Cnidaria–5120. One specimen (dissected) plus several histological slides. Miami Terrace off Fort Lauderdale , Florida, Deep Coral Cruise , JSLII, Dive –3498: 26°05.6696′N; 79°50.6030′W, 300 m, June 2006 .

Additional material. AMNH _IZC_ 00361499. One specimen (dissected). Baltimore Canyon, Deep Water MidAtlantic Canyon Expedition 2012, ROV-2012-NF-02, ROV Kraken II, V 8 (voucher 8); 38°08’50.6”N 73°50’02.4”W, 282 m, 19 August 2012 .

AMNH _IZC_ 00361500. two specimens (dissected). Baltimore Canyon, Deep Water Mid-Atlantic Canyon Expedition 2012, ROV-2012-NF-02, ROV Kraken II, V 6 (voucher 6), S7; 38°08’50.3”N 73°49’58.8”W; 283 m, 19 August 2012 .

AMNH _IZC_00250028: One specimen (dissected). Gulf of Mexico, Bioluminescence and Vision on the Deep Seafloor 2015, Station MC751 , Dive 16, specimen 121 “white anemone”, formalin; 28°11’38.4”N 89°47’54.2”W, 438 m, 25 July 2015 .

Type locality. Little Bahamas Bank.

Etymology. The species is named after Hiro’omi Uchida, who recognize the new species based on descriptions of the specimens from The Bahamas (mis)identified by McMurrich as Halcurias pilatus .

Short description. Halcurias with column 49.4–73.0 mm height and 26.1–38.3 mm diameter in preserved specimens; distal column with nematocyst batteries with only basitrichs. Tentacles 55–70, smooth, tapering, longer than diameter of oral disc, 11–18.5 mm length in preserved specimens. Ten pairs of perfect mesenteries; microcnemes growing in endocoels only in distal-most column. Living specimens with whitish column, long tapering whitish-translucent tentacles and bright orange mouth elevated on hypostome ( Fig. 2 ).

A detailed description of H. uchidai sp. nov. including images of histological characters, cnidae and cnidae measures is available in Rodríguez et al. 2013 (pag. 5–6, figs. 1, 6–8, table 1) under the name Halcurias mcmurrichi .

Natural history and geographic and bathymetric distribution. Halcurias uchidai sp. nov. is widely distributed in deep waters (282–619 m depth) off the northwestern Atlantic, along the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Strait and the Little Bahamas Bank lithoherms, and to the northeastern mid-Atlantic canyons off the US coast (Baltimore Canyon) ( Fig. 1 ). It has been found living in soft bottoms or attached to hard substrate among deep-sea communities of Desmophyllum Ehrenberg, 1834 (former Lophelia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 ; see Hoeksema & Cairns 2022) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map showing the geographic distribution of Halcurias uchidai sp. nov. Numbers in rectangles indicate the corresponding magnified area. Asterisks, type locality; black triangles, additional localities.

FIGURE 2. Preserved, in situ and living images of Halcurias uchidai sp. nov. a) lateral view of preserved and dissected holotype (AMNH Cat. Cnidaria–5125). b) Several specimens settled closely. c) Lateral view of expanded specimen (AMNH_ IZC_ 00361500). d), e), f) Oral view of expanded specimens; notice the bright orange mouth; g) Detail of retracted specimen depicted in d). In situ images (b–g) courtesy of Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM. Scale bars: a–e, 300 mm.