Scandia gigas ( Pieper, 1884 )

Gravili, Cinzia, Vito, Doris De, Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di, Martell, Luis, Piraino, Stefano & Boero, Ferdinando, 2015, The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide, Zootaxa 3908 (1), pp. 1-187 : 107-108

Scandia gigas ( Pieper, 1884)

Fig. 76 A–C

See Boero et al. (1997a) for a complete synonymy.

Material examined. HCUS-S 0 83 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).

Description (based on our own observations; Boero et al. 1997a):

Hydroid. Colonies stolonal; hydrocauli as erect pedicels scarcely, dichotomously or irregularly branched and ended in hydrothecae, perisarc undulated or twisted throughout; hydrothecae tubular, elongated, walls sometimes asymmetrical, narrowing gradually towards the base, with a hydrothecal diaphragm, margin everted, rim even. Gonothecae: female gonothecae spherical, male ones sac-shaped and elongated.

Cnidome. Microbasic mastigophores.

Habitat type. Littoral and shelf species that has been found from the tidal level to about 90 m depth in the Mediterranean Sea ( Boero & Fresi 1986; Roca 1986).

Substrate. Hydroids, algae, Posidonia , other organisms such as bryozoans, sponges, anthozoans, polychaete tubes, bivalve and gastropod shells, cirripedes, ascidians, and non-living substrata.

Seasonality: July–April ( Boero & Fresi 1986) in the Ligurian Sea; January, April–June, August, September, November (for a review see Bouillon et al. 2004); January–December (De Vito 2006; this study) in Salento waters.

Reproductive period. April (Gili 1986); July ( Broch 1933); July–August ( Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002); August–September ( Boero & Fresi 1986) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Distribution. Temperate waters Atlantic and Pacific, Mediterranean ( Stechow 1919; Broch 1933; Fraser 1946; Patriti 1970; Marinopoulos 1979; Isasi 1985; Altuna 1994; Medel & López-González 1996; Boero et al. 1997a; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Bouillon et al. 2004; Galea 2008; Gravili et al. 2008a; Puce et al. 2009; Soto Ãngel & Peña Cantero 2013).

Records in Salento. Moderately frequent in the following localities: Grotta del Ciolo ( Moscatello & Belmonte 2007); Il Chiapparo, Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006; Gravili et al. 2008a; this study).

Remarks. In the Mediterranean area many authors used the name Scandia pocillum for Lafoea gigas Pieper, 1884 . Boero (1981a) reintroduced the name S. gigas since Cornelius (1975) showed that L. pocillum is conspecific with L. dumosa . Gonothecae and medusae not seen in the present study.

References. Stechow (1919 as Hebella gigas, 1923 as Croatella gigas ), Broch (1933) as Hebellopsis gigas, Leloup (1934) , Picard (1958a), Riedl (1959, 1966), Rossi (1961, 1971 as Scandia pocillum ), Sarà et al. (1978), García Corrales et al. (1979) as S. pocillum, Boero (1981a , b), García Carrascosa (1981) as S. pocillum, Gili (1982, 1986 ), Isasi (1985) as S. pocillum, Boero & Fresi (1986) , Llobet et al. (1986, 1991), Roca (1986) as Scandia parvula, Roca et al. (1991) , Medel (1996), Medel & López-González (1996), Boero et al. (1997a), Piraino et al. (1999), Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa (2002), Bouillon et al. (2004), De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006), Galea (2007), Moscatello & Belmonte (2007), Gravili et al. (2008a), Puce et al. (2009).

Figures

FIGURE 76. Scandia gigas: A, hydrotheca; B, female gonotheca; C, male gonotheca (A, B, C same scale bar) (modified after Boero 1981 a). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.