Sertularella ellisii

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 : 159-160

Sertularella ellisii

(fig. 4A; table 1)

Sertularia Ellisii Deshayes & Milne Edwards, 1836: 142 –143.

Sertularella ellisii ellisii .— Picard, 1956: 264–265, fig. 3d.—Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 124–125, fig. 24a–c. Sertularella ellisii .—Ramil et al., 1992: 503–507, figs. 6, 7.—Medel, 1996: 201–205, fig. 75.— Moura et al., 2011: 524, 525, fig. 3.

Material studied. Ormonde, stn 1: abundant, on Zonaria tournefortii , fertile colonies, epibionts: small algae and calcified Bryozoa; DBUA 1527.10. Ormonde, stn. 2: abundant, on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: algae and calcified Bryozoa; DBUA 1527.01. Ormonde, stn 3: abundant, fertile colonies, on Zonaria tournefortii ; epibionts: small algae and calcified Bryozoa; DBUA 1527.02. Ormonde, stn 4: very abundant, fertile colonies, on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: calcified Bryozoa, small algae and Clytia hemisphaerica ; DBUA 1527.03. Gettysburg, stn 5: few colonies, on Zonaria tournefortii , overgrown by small algae, DBUA 1527.04. Gettysburg, stn 6: abundant, fertile colonies, on Zonaria tournefortii and hydrocauli of Aglaophenia pluma , epibionts: algae; DBUA 1527.05.

Gettysburg, stn 7: on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: Bryozoa; DBUA 1527.06. Gettysburg, stn 8: many colonies, fertile specimens, on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: Halecium tenellum , Eudendrium sp. (on hydrorhiza), Clytia cf. gracilis ; DBUA 1527.03. Gettysburg, stn 9: abundant, fertile colonies, on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: Lafoeina tenuis , small algae, Bryozoa. Gettysburg, stn 10: some specimens, on Zonaria tournefortii , epibionts: Lafoeina tenuis and Halecium tenellum ; DBUA 1527.09.

Remarks. Morphological measurements ( Table 1 ) when compared with those presented by Moura et al. (2011) for Sertularella lineages, place the Gorringe specimens more similar to the lineage of S. ellisii from W Portugal published by Moura et al. (2011), but hydrothecae of Gorringe specimens are slightly larger. After revelation of cryptic diversity within the S. ellisii species complex ( Moura et al. 2011), taxonomic confidence with this S. ' ellisii ' identification will only occur after molecular phylogenetic studies containing the Gorringe material and a greater haplotype representation of S. ellisii morphologically similar specimens from their whole geographical areas of occurrence, including type localities of taxa that has already been synonymized (e.g. S. ellisii , Sertularella fusiformis ( Hincks, 1861) and Sertularella lagenoides Stechow, 1919 , but also species originally described from the southern hemisphere: Sertularella gaudichaudi (Lamouroux, 1824) and Sertularella picta (Meyen, 1834)) . Moura et al. (2011) already demonstrated the validity of the nominal species Sertularella polyzonias ( Linnaeus, 1758) , Sertularella mediterranea Hartlaub, 1901 and Sertularella ornata , that have been sometimes regarded as synonyms of S. ellisii , and share indeed close phylogenetic affinities.

Reported distribution. Eastern Atlantic.—Gorringe (present study), mainland Portugal ( Cornelius 1979; Moura et al. 2011), S Spain (Medel 1996), N Spain (e.g. Altuna et al. 1984; Isasi & Saiz 1986; Altuna & García- Carrascosa 1990; García Corrales et al. 1980; Ramil et al. 1992), France ( Teissier 1965; Fey 1970), Belgium ( Muller 2004). Probably misidentified in the Azores (Medel & Vervoort 1998; Vervoort 2006) after detection of cryptic diversity within S. ellisii and also S. fusiformis that has been regarded as conspecific to S. ellisii ( Moura et al. 2011) . Records from Madeira ( Vervoort 2006; Wirtz 2007), Selvagens, Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Mauritania (e.g. Medel & Vervoort 1998; Vervoort 2006) may be therefore dubious too, after molecular analyses of Moura et al. (2011) that demand higher haplotype sampling of Sertularella populations in the Macaronesian region to clarify the taxonomy of this group.

Mediterranean.— Spain (e.g. García-Corrales et al. 1980; García-Carrascosa 1981; Gili 1986; Medel 1996), Chafarinas Islands (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002); Algeria ( Picard 1955), France (e.g. Leloup 1934b; Picard 1956), Italy (e.g. Boero & Fresi 1986; Di Camillo et al. 2006; Puce et al. 2009), Adriatic ( Broch 1933), Aegean Sea (Morri & Bianchi 1999), Turkey ( Marinopoulos 1979), Israel ( Vervoort 1993), Lebanon ( Morri et al. 2009).

Elsewhere.—Some (dubious) records in the western Atlantic and Pacific (e.g Cairns et al. 2002).

Tables

TABLE 1. Measurements of Sertularella ellisii in Μm.

	Stn 4	Stn 6
Internodes, lenght	620–840	600–850
diameter at node	170–180	150–200
Hydrotheca
length abcauline wall	540–610	620–680
length free part adcauline wall	370–440	460–670
length adnate part adcauline wall	300–360	290–350
diameter at margin	210–250	200–260
maximum diameter	310–360	330–360
Gonotheca
length	1580–1600	1280–1370
maximum diameter	750–1	700–900
diameter at aperture	350–450	200–220
number of annulations	6–7	7–8
cusps	5	3