Eudendrium irregulare Fraser, 1922a

Calder, Dale R. & Choong, Henry H. C., 2018, Names of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) established by Charles McLean Fraser (1872 - 1946), excluding those from Allan Hancock Expeditions, Zootaxa 4487 (1), pp. 1-83 : 24

Eudendrium irregulare Fraser, 1922a

Eudendrium irregulare Fraser, 1922a: 97 , pl. 1, fig. 7.

Syntypes. BCPM 976-00235-001 : Canada, British Columbia, Northumberland Channel , 14 July 1921, 27 m ; 60% IPA.

Lectotype, by present designation. RBCM 976-00235-002 : Canada, British Columbia, Northumberland Channel , 27 m, 14 July 1921, one straggling colony, overgrowing a lafoeid, in poor condition, pedicels up to about 3 mm high, hydranths mostly absent or very badly deteriorated, gonophores absent; 70% ethanol.

Paralectotypes. BCPM 976-00235-001 : Canada, British Columbia, Northumberland Channel , 14 July 1921, 27 m ; several small colonies on lafoeids, in poor condition, gonophores absent; 60% IPA.

Type locality. Canada, British Columbia: Northumberland Channel, 27 m ( Fraser 1922a).

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. Collection data accompanying the RBCM specimens (BCPM 976-00235-001) accord with those given in the original description of Eudendrium irregulare by Fraser (1922a). Hydroids in the Fraser Collection are therefore taken to be syntypes. The lectotype colony selected here (RBCM 976-00235-002) was chosen as the best representative of the species amongst the syntypes in the collection. All remaining specimens of the original syntype series are paralectotypes. Another collection of the species recorded in the RBCM database (BCPM 976- 00166-001-Z) could not be located. A bottle with a similar collection number (BCPM 976-00166-001-Y) contains material attributed to Endocrypta huntsmani ( Fraser, 1911) .

Material of E. irregulare examined and described by Fraser (1922a) was sterile. Although he reported having seen colonies of this small, straggly hydroid many times and at different locations, hydranths satisfactory for description had not previously been observed. Fertile specimens of the species have yet to be described, and its cnidome remains unknown ( Calder 2017). The species has been accepted as valid ( Cairns et al. 2002; WoRMS).