Coryne Gaertner, 1774

Calder, Dale R., 2010, Some anthoathecate hydroids and limnopolyps (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Hawaiian archipelago 2590, Zootaxa 2590 (1), pp. 1-91 : 50-52

Genus Coryne Gaertner, 1774

Coryne Gaertner, 1774: 40 .

Type species. Coryne pusilla Gaertner, 1774 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Corynid hydroids stolonal or with erect and branched hydrocaulus, arising from a creeping hydrorhiza. Hydranths club-shaped, bearing capitate tentacles over distal half or more, filiform tentacles present or absent at proximal end; capitate tentacles surrounding hypostome in an oral whorl, those lower on hydranth scattered or in two or more irregular whorls; hypostome without distinct button-like mucous gland cell aggregation. Cnidome comprising stenoteles.

FIGURE 33. Ectopleura cf. viridis : medusa bud, ROMIZ B3827. Scale equals 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 34. Coryne sp. 1 : part of stolonal colony with hydranth, ROMIZ B3828. Scale equals 0.25 mm.

FIGURE 35. Coryne sp. 1 : nematocysts, ROMIZ B3828. a, mastigophore (?). b, small stenoteles. c, large stenotele.

Gonophores fixed sporosacs or free medusae, arising either in upper axils of lower capitate tentacles or at level of proximal-most capitate tentacles, the latter sometimes becoming reduced with advancing gonophore development. Free medusae, when present, thimble-shaped with unbranched tentacles; manubrium short, contained within subumbrellar cavity; gonad forming a wide single band on manubrium, not covering oral end. Oblong isorhizas absent in both hydroid and medusa stages. Cnidome comprising stenoteles and desmonemes; occasionally with heteronemes.

Remarks. The concept of the genus Coryne Gaertner, 1774 maintained here was proposed by Petersen (1979, 1990) and adopted in most subsequent works (e.g. Brinckmann-Voss 2000; Schuchert 2001b; Bouillon et al. 2006). In addition to being more reflective of presumed phylogeny than previous views of the genus, the classification made it possible to differentiate hydroids of the corynid genera Coryne and Sarsia Lesson, 1843 even when the type of gonophore produced is not known. In earlier classifications, species with fixed sporosacs had been assigned to Coryne and those with free medusae to Sarsia . As defined here, gonophores in Coryne arise either in the axils of lower capitate tentacles or in the region of the hydranth wall where proximal-most capitate tentacles exist or were originally present. By contrast, gonophores in Sarsia develop below the level of the capitate tentacles. In adult medusae, the manubrium in Coryne is short and contained within the subumbrellar cavity while that in Sarsia is long and extends beyond the subumbrellar cavity. A number of characters can be used to differentiate Coryne from other genera in the family ( Schuchert 2001b; Bouillon et al. 2006).

Petersen’s (1979, 1990) classification of Corynidae Johnston, 1836 , having gained widespread support, has now been challenged by the recent phylogenetic analysis of the family by Nawrocki et al. (2010), as noted above. However, changes in the scope of Coryne from their analysis are relatively modest ( Schuchert 2010), and the diagnosis given above is based on the pre-2010 concept of the genus.

The traditional taxonomy and nomenclature of Coryne has been summarized in earlier work ( Calder 1988; Schuchert 2001b).