Obelia geniculata

Moura, Carlos J., 2015, The hydrozoan fauna (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the peaks of the Ormonde and Gettysburg seamounts (Gorringe Bank, NE Atlantic), Zootaxa 3972 (2), pp. 148-180 : 166-167

Obelia geniculata

(fig. 4I)

Sertularia geniculata Linnaeus, 1758: 812 .

Obelia geniculata .— Hincks, 1868: 149, pl. 25 figs 1,1a.— Patriti, 1970: 35, figs 44, 44bis.— Cornelius, 1975a: 272, figs 1a–d, 5a–c.— Cornelius, 1982: 119 –120.—Cornelius, 1990: 550–557.— Vervoort, 1993: 558 –559.— Cornelius, 1995b: 301 –303, fig. 70.— Medel & López-González, 1996: 206.— Medel & Vervoort, 2000: 54 –58.—Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 162–163, fig. 31d.— Govindarajan et al., 2005: 213 –222, fig. 1.

Laomedea geniculata .— Da Cunha, 1944: 61, fig. 35.

Material studied. Ormonde, stn 4: fertile colonies, very abundant on the brown alga Laminaria ochroleuca Bachelot de la Pylaie; DBUA 1524.01.

Remarks. Oceana (2005) reported an Obelia species, possibly corresponding to O. geniculata . The present manuscript confirms this species presence at the top of the Ormonde seamount.

Reported distribution. Eastern Atlantic.—Widespread, from Iceland ( Broch 1918) to South Africa ( Millard 1975).

Mediterranean.—Widespread (e.g. García Corrales et al. 1978; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002).

Elsewhere.—Historically considered a cosmopolitan species (e.g. Picard 1958a; Millard 1975), but Govindarajan et al. (2005) found considerable genetic differentiation, indicative of cryptic speciation, between specimens from the North Atlantic, Japan and New Zealand. O. geniculata was originally described from Dover, UK ( Linnaeus 1758; Cornelius 1975a) being thus probable that the Gorringe specimens are correctly identified.