Nemertesia hippuris (Allman, 1877)

Galea, Horia R., Di Camillo, Cristina G. & Maggioni, Davide, 2021, An integrative study of Callicarpa gracilis Fewkes, 1881 and Aglaophenia trifida L. Agassiz, 1862, with notes on some hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from French Guiana, Zootaxa 4926 (3), pp. 301-341 : 330

Nemertesia hippuris (Allman, 1877)

Fig. A1

Antennopsis hippuris Allman, 1877: 35 , pl. 21 figs 3–6 (type species of the genus Antennopsis Allman, 1877 ).—Fewkes, 1881: 128.—Nutting, 1900: 73, pl. 11 figs 4–6.—Fraser, 1944: 319, pl. 67 fig. 305.

Nemertesia hippuris— Ramil & Vervoort, 2006: 122.

Description. Small and rather delicate colonies, not surpassing 2 inches (ca. 5 cm) in height, arising from a cluster of tubular, stolonal fibers; stems simple, straight, monosiphonic, divided into rather short internodes, each bearing distally a conspicuous cladial apophysis; a couple of axillar nematothecae, and one below the apophysis; the latter are given off irregularly from all sides of the stem; cladia slender, heteromerously divided into hydrothecate and ahydrothecate internodes; the former with one hydrotheca and 4 nematothecae: one mesial, a couple of laterals, and one above the hydrotheca; ahydrothecate internodes with 2 nematothecae in a row; hydrothecae borne on proximal halves of their corresponding internodes, small, rather deep, cup-shaped, margin entire, not everted; colonies dioecious; gonothecae shortly pedunculate, borne singly in the axils of hydrocladia; presumably male elongated oval, with an oblique terminal orifice; presumably female slipper-shaped with the distal end curved over to one side, and with a subterminal orifice.

Distribution. Off Double-Headed Shot Cays (23°59’50’’ N, 80°19’15’’ W, 356 m), Florida Straits; off Charleston, South Carolina (32°7’ N, 78°37’ W, 419 m); off St. Augustine, Florida (29°47’ N, 80°06’ W, 481 m) [summarized by Nutting (1900)].

Figures

FIGURE 1. Historical illustrations of Callicarpa gracilis Fewkes, 1881, modified after the original account. A. Whole colony. B. Hydrotheca. C. Whole phylactocarp seen laterally. D. Cross section through the phylactocarp.