Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis ( Mello-Leitao , 1919)

Stampar, Sergio N., Reimer, James D., Maronna, Maximiliano M., Lopes, Celine S. S., Ceriello, Hellen, Santos, Thais B., Acuna, Fabian H. & Morandini, Andre C., 2020, Ceriantharia (Cnidaria) of the World: an annotated catalogue and key to species, ZooKeys 952, pp. 1-63 : 1

2 Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis ( Mello-Leitao, 1919)

(?) Cerianthus americanus : Hertwig, 1882: 110 116

Cerianthus brasiliensis Mello-Leitão, 1919: 38-39

Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis : Carlgren 1931: 2-6; Carlgren 1940: 6,11-12; Stampar et al. 2010: 205-209; Silveira and Morandini 2011: 3; Rodriguez et al. 2011: 52, 54-55; Spier et al. 2012: 1-3; Stampar et al. 2012: 5-6, 9; Stampar et al. 2014a: 2,5,8; Stampar et al. 2014b: 344, 347, 351, 353; and Stampar et al. 2015a: 3; González-Muñoz et al. 2016: 5, 9; Stampar et al. 2016: 64, 67, 68; Stampar and Morandini 2017: 690; Lopes et al. 2019: 127-148

(?) Cerianthromorphe brasiliensis : Hedgpeth 1954: 286

Type locality.

Baía de Guanabara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Distribution.

Brazil ( Espírito Santo (20.5°S) to Rio Grande do Sul (33.7°S) states); Uruguay (35°S), and Gulf of Mexico (dubious record, 24-29°N), shallow waters (at <40 m depth).

Remarks.

This species was first described as Cerianthus brasiliensis by Mello-Leitão (1919) from Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This description is quite simple and based on only a few external morphological characters. Oskar Carlgren visited the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ) at the time of description of the genus Ceriantheomorphe sometime between 1925 and 1929, but he was unable to find the type material designated by Mello-Leitão. However, the type material (MNRJ 100) of Cerianthus brasiliensis is available and, based on our examinations, every mesentery, except for the directives, is fertile. Thus, based on this, the species described by Mello-Leitão should be moved to the genus Ceriantheomorphe . Carlgren (1931) mentions that the species (with this name) as described by him in that publication may be a junior synonym of C. brasiliensis Mello-Leitão 1919, as Lopes et al. (2019) have shown. Hertwig (1882) recorded a specimen of Cerianthus americanus from the Uruguayan coast whose external shape appeared to be very similar to that of Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis . However, that specimen was not available at the time of the present study and may be lost.

Type material.

Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro - MNRJ 100 (Holotype).