Clytia Joyce, 1961: 51 Clytia Shier, 1965: 37 Wedler, 1975: 332 Wedler, 1976: 41 On a collection of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the southwest coast of Florida, USA Calder, Dale R. Zootaxa 2019 2019-10-25 4689 1 1 141 84762 (Wedler, 1976) Wedler 1976 [151,665,1665,1692] Hydrozoa Campanulariidae Campanularia Animalia Leptothecata 40 41 Cnidaria species colombiana   Figs. 10a, b     Clytiasp. A.—  Joyce, 1961: 51, pl. 9, figs. 3, 4, pl. 10, fig. 1.    Clytiaspecies Joyce.—  Shier, 1965: 37, pls. 19, 20.    Clytia colombiana  Wedler, 1975: 332, 340, 352 ( nomen nudum).    Clytia colombiana  Wedler, 1976: 41, figs. 1a–c, 2a, b, pl. 1, a–d.     Typelocality. Colombia: Santa Marta area ( Wedler, 1976: 41, as  Clytia colombiana).  Material examined.Sanibel Island, beach at Lighthouse Point, 26°26’57”N, 82°01’06”W, on detached  Thalassiaat water’s edge, 13 March 2018, 20° C, 33.5‰, one colony, 1 mmhigh, with gonophores, coll. D. Calder, ROMIZB4356.—Sanibel Island, beach at Lighthouse Point, 26°27’00”N, 82°01’01”W, on detached  Thalassiaat water’s edge, 15 March 2018, two colonies or colony fragments, up to 3 mmhigh, with gonophores, coll. D. Calder, ROMIZB4422 [initially preserved in 70% ethanol; later transferred to the same preservative].  Non-Florida material examined.  SYNTYPE. Colombia: Santa Marta, Rodadero,  3-5 m, on seagrass,  24 February 1972, one colony, 2 mmhigh, without gonophores, coll. E. Wedler, SMF 3606[slide].   Remarks.This hydroid was first recognized as an undescribed species in a master’s thesis by Joyce (1961, as  Clytiasp. A). His specimens, in collections from the Seahorse Key area on the Gulf coast of Florida, USA, were found on floating seagrass in April and August of 1960. Fertile colonies were present in both collections. Four years later the species was reported again, from the Cape San Blas area on the FloridaGulf coast, in a master’s thesis by Shier (1965, as  Clytiaspecies Joyce). She found it on all three species of seagrasses in the region (  Thalassia testudinum,  Halodule wrightii,  Syringodium filiforme). Specimens were collected by her every month of the year, with peaks of abundance in April and October. Hydroids with gonothecae were observed every month except June. Joyce and Shier neither published accounts of the species nor proposed a specific name for it. The hydroid was subsequently described and named by Wedler (1976), as  Clytia colombiana, based on material from the Santa Marta area on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The binomen  C. colombianahad been mentioned a year earlier in an ecological work by Wedler (1975), but as a nomen nudum(see ICZN Art. 13). No name-bearing types of the species were designated in the original description by Wedler (1976). One of his specimens (SMF 3606), examined here, is currently listed as the holotypein collections at the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum. Under the code (ICZN Art. 72), however, it merely constitutes part of the syntypeseries. In not having examined the entire collection of the species at Senckenberg, no lectotypeis designated here. The generic identity of this hydroid is somewhat obscure, although its assignment to  Clytia Lamouroux, 1812is certain to be incorrect. In having thickened perisarc at the base of the hydrotheca instead of a true diaphragm, a subhydrothecal spherule at the distal end of the hydrothecal pedicel instead of a typical annulation, and fixed sporosacs rather than free and well-developed medusae, it conforms instead with genera such as  Campanularia Lamarck, 1816and  OrthopyxisL. Agassiz, 1862. The latter two are morphologically close and sometimes considered identical (e.g., Millard 1975; Schuchert 2001), although molecular studies thus far uphold the distinction between them (  Cunha et al. 2015, 2017; Maronna et al. 2016). While resembling  Orthopyxisin having somewhat thickened hydrothecal walls, this hydroid appears closer to  Campanulariain having fixed sporosacs rather than medusoids, and stolons that do not appear to anastomose. The binomen  Campanularia colombianais adopted for the species here. Bandel & Wedler (1987)had used the combination earlier, although with the specific name misspelled as  columbiana. Morphological distinctions between  Campanulariaand  Orthopyxishave been reviewed in works such as those of Calder (1991a), Cornelius (1995b), and Bouillon et al. (2006).  Wedler (1976)observed and described two morphotypes of  C. colombianain his original account of this species. Specimens of “ TypeI”, from shallow waters ( 3–5 m) at Ensenada de Concha and Banco Pobea, Bahíade Santa Marta, differed from those of “ TypeII”, from deeper depths ( 20 m) at Bahíade Gaira, in having hydrothecae that were much smaller and more shallow. Hydroids from southwest Floridaexamined here (ROMIZ B4356, ROMIZ B4422) corresponded in both shape and size with the “ TypeII” form. Those found and illustrated by Joyce (1961, as  Clytiasp. A) and Shier (1965, as  Clytiaspecies Joyce) from other locations on the Gulf coast of Floridaappear to resemble “ TypeI”. Fertile colonies of this little-known hydroid were collected during March 2018from  Thalassiaat Sanibel Island, Florida. Gonophores were fixed sporosacs, with well-developed eggs observed inside the gonothecae. Thus far,  C. colombianais known only from the Caribbean coast of Colombiaand the Gulf coast of Florida, USA. With colonies that are tiny (< 5 mmhigh) and superficially similar to certain other campanulariids and clytiids, the species is easy to overlook. Its distribution in the warm western North Atlantic is almost certainly much wider than currently reported.  Reported distribution. Gulf coast of Florida.Seahorse Key ( Joyce 1961: 51, as  Clytiasp. A).—  Cape San Blas area( Shier 1965: 37, as  Clytiaspecies Joyce).  Elsewhere in western North Atlantic. Colombia: Santa Marta area ( Wedler 1976: 42, as  Clytia colombiana; Bandel & Wedler 1987: 41, as  Campanularia columbiana(sic); Wedler 2017b: 88, figs. 77–79, as  Clytia colombiana). 2430643631 [151,1102,1931,1958] Colombia Santa Marta area 40 41 1 holotype 2430643637 1972-02-24 SMF E. Wedler Colombia 4 Santa Marta Rodadero 41 42 SMF 3606 1 syntype 2430643633 San Blas area 41 42 1 Western Cape