Sertularia setacea Linnaeus, 1758: 813 Plumularia setacea Deevey, 1950: 347 Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA Calder, Dale R. Zootaxa 2013 2013-05-14 3648 1 1 72   Sertularia setacea  Linnaeus, 1758: 813   4KJLT (Linnaeus, 1758) Linnaeus 1758 [151,599,1376,1403] Hydrozoa Plumulariidae Plumularia Animalia Leptothecata 36 37 Cnidaria species setacea   Fig. 10e      Sertularia setacea Linnaeus, 1758: 813.    Plumularia setacea.—  Deevey, 1950: 347, fig. 6.    Typelocality. UK: Brighton (“Brighthelmstone”) and Whitstable ( Ellis 1755: 19, as  Corallina setacea). Linnaeus (1758)gave the binomen  Sertularia setaceato the species described by Ellis, listing its locality only as “Habitat in Oceano.”  Voucher material.  Off Vero Beach, 27°41.2’N, 80°14.5’W,  17 m,  13.ii.1974, small biological dredge, R/ V  GosnoldStation220/226, several colony fragments, up to 2.4 cmhigh, without gonophores, ROMIZ B1077.—  Fort Pierce Inlet, north jetty, north side, 27°28’24.2’N, 80°17’20.3”W, low water, on polychaete tubes,  15.ii.1991, 20° C, collected manually, six colony fragments, up to 2.1 cmhigh, with gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B1111.   Remarks.  Plumularia setacea( Linnaeus, 1758)and  P. strictocarpa Pictet, 1893are generally said to be indistinguishable morphologically in the absence of reproductive structures. Part of the material examined here (ROMIZ B1111) bore gonophores protected by fusiform gonothecae, typical of  P. setacea. Specimens from shelf waters off Vero Beach (ROMIZ B1077), although sterile, were assigned to the same species based on the size of the colonies, larger than normally found in  P. strictocarpa, and their identical appearance to colonies from Fort Pierce Inlet (ROMIZ B1111) having gonophores. Also somewhat resembling  Plumularia setaceaare three less well known species originally described from the Straits of Florida region,  P. filicula Allman, 1877,  P. attenuata Allman, 1877, and  P. megalocephala Allman, 1877. As noted earlier ( Calder 1997), all appear to differ from the present species in having hydrocladial apophyses with pronounced cylindrical extensions distal to the mamelon, and in bearing a nematotheca on the proximalmost (ahydrothecate) internode of each hydrocladium. Moreover, gonothecae of  P. filicula, as described and illustrated by Allman (1877), have a wide, oblique aperture rather than a small circular one at the end of a narrow neck as in  P. setacea. In  P. attenuata, all hydrocladial internodes beyond the proximalmost one are hydrothecate instead of being alternately hydrothecate and athecate. Hydrocauli of  P. megalocephalawere described by Allman as being irregularly branched, whereas those of  P. setaceaare usually unbranched or only sparingly branched. In some respects these hydroids resemble species of  Nemertesia Lamouroux, 1812, but further study is needed to confirm their generic affinities. Thorough taxonomic accounts of  Plumularia setaceaare given by Ansín Agís et al. (2001)and Schuchert (2013).  Reported distribution.Atlantic coast of Florida. Central east coast of Florida( Deevey 1950, distribution map). Western Atlantic. Marthas Vineyard ( Fraser 1944) to Argentina(Oliveira et al. submitted), including Bermuda( Calder 1997), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Galea 2010). Elsewhere. Cosmopolitan except for polar regions ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Schuchert 2013). 1974-02-13 ROMIZ V Gosnold Station 17 27.686666 Off Vero Beach 123 -80.24167 Gosnold Station 36 37 B1077 1 1991-02-15 ROMIZ D. R. Calder Fort Pierce Inlet -80.28897 36 37 B1111 1