Alcyonidium gelatinosum, Linnaeus, 1761

Porter, John S. Ryland Joanne S., 2003, The identity of Alcyonidium gelatinosum (Linnaeus, 1761) (Bryozoa: Ctenostomatida), Journal of Natural History 37, pp. 2179-2189 : 2184-2185

Alcyonidium gelatinosum : annotated synonymy

There are many references in the literature to A. mytili and A. polyoum from parts of the world far remote from the western Europe. They are almost certainly based on neither of these species nor on A. gelatinosum . The following is an essentially western European listing of synonyms and homonyms of Alcyonidium gelatinosum :

Alcyonium gelatinosum Linnaeus, 1761: 538 .

[not] Alcyonium gelatinosum: Linnaeus, 1767: 1295 [though Fauna svecica (1961) is actually the first reference in the list]; Gmelin, 1791: 3814; 1796: 3814; Fleming, 1828: 517.

[not] Sarcochitum polyoum Hassall, 1841c: 484 ; Johnston, 1847: 365; Joliet, 1877: 100.

[not] Alcyonidium gelatinosum: Lamouroux, 1821: 71 ; Johnston, 1838: 300; 1847: 358, pl. 68; Smitt, 1867: 497, 512, 531, pl. XII 9–13; Hincks, 1880: 491, pl. 64; Borg, 1930: 97; Marcus, 1940: 301; Lacourt, 1949: 302; Prenant and Bobin, 1956: 204; Chrétien, 1958; Grellet, 1958; Ryland, 1962b: 19; 1969: 233; Thorpe et al., 1978a; Hayward, 1985: 52; Ryland, 1990: 830; Hayward and Ryland, 1995: 657; de Putron and Ryland, 1998; Porter et al., 2000.

[not] Alcyonidium mytili Dalyell, 1848: 36 (see Cadman and Ryland 1996a, 1996b).

[?not] Alcyonidium hexagonum Hincks, 1857: 176 , 249; 1862: 470. [Introduced as a gratuitous replacement for A. mytili Dalyell, 1848 , but, from the description of the discharge of seven larvae (Hincks, 1851, as Cycloum papillosum , though later (Hincks, 1857, p. 250, footnote) referred to mytili ), it seems to be based on A. polyoum .]

Alcyonidium mytili: Smitt 1867: 496 , 507, 531, pl. XII 1–2; Hincks, 1880: 498 [pars]; Nordgaard, 1906 [?pars]; Römer, 1906; Silbermann, 1906 [pars]; Le Brozec, 1955; Prenant and Bobin, 1956: 217; Matricon, 1960; Eggleston, 1969; Ryland, 1969: 233; Thorpe et al., 1978a; Hayward, 1985: 60; Ryland, 1990: 830; d’Hondt, 1996. [Nordgaard’s (1906) record of A. mytili on Fucus serratus from outer Hjelterfjorden (Bergen) seems a probable extension of the range, but his records from Finmark, like other Arctic referrals to A. mytili , are best viewed with caution.]

[not] Alcyonidium mytili: Barrois, 1877 [= A. polyoum ].

[not] Alcyonidium polyoum: Hincks, 1880: 501 ; Le Brozec, 1955; Prenant and Bobin, 1956: 211; Matricon, 1960, 1963; Ryland et al., 2002; d’Hondt, 1996.

Alcyonidium polyoum: Borg, 1930: 98 ; Marcus, 1940: 303; Lacourt, 1949: 303 [pars].

[?] Alcyonidium polyoum anglei d’Hondt and Goyffon, 1991: 500 .

Alcyonidium sp. : de Putron and Ryland, 1998.

Alcyonidium sp. 3 : Porter et al., 2000.

Alcyonidium reticulum Ryland and Porter, 2000 ; Ryland, 2002a, 2002b; Ryland et al., 2002.

We cannot attribute all of J.-L. d’Hondt’s references to species. His usages of A. mytili and A. polyoum follow those of Prenant and Bobin (1956) but attributions from north-west European localities (d’Hondt and Goyffon, 1989, 1991), where the two species occur intimately mixed on the same Fucus serratus , are likely to confound the two.