Obelia multidentata Fraser, 1914a

Calder, Dale R. & Choong, Henry H. C., 2018, Names of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) established by Charles McLean Fraser (1872 - 1946), excluding those from Allan Hancock Expeditions, Zootaxa 4487 (1), pp. 1-83 : 70

Obelia multidentata Fraser, 1914a

? Obelia multidentata Fraser, 1914a: 154 , pl. 17, figs. 56Α, B.

Syntypes. BCPM 976-00438-001 : USA, Washington, Friday Harbor ; slide.

BCPM 976-438-002 : USA, Washington, Friday Harbor ; slide.

Lectotype, by present designation. RBCM 976-00438-003: USA, Washington, Friday Harbor, one colony (at the top of slide BCPM 976-00438-002), 1.0 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonophores; slide.

Paralectotypes. BCPM 976-00438-001 : USA, Washington, Friday Harbor ; slide.

BCPM 976-00438-002 : USA, Washington, Friday Harbor ; slide.

Type locality. USA, Washington: Friday Harbor ( Fraser 1914a).

Current status. Species inquirenda.

Remarks. No specimens have previously been fixed as name-bearing types of Obelia multidentata Fraser, 1914a . However, syntypes of the species exist on two slides in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00438-001, BCPM 976-00438-002). Others, from the Vancouver Island area (BCPM 976-00439-001: Departure Bay, 0 7 June 1915), were collected after the species was described and are not types. Also not part of the type series is a collection from Alaska at the CAS (CAS-IZ 14343.00). We designate, as lectotype of the species, a fragment of a colony on one of the syntype slides (BCPM 976-00438-002). That specimen (RBCM 976-00438- 003), one of two on the slide, is recognizable in being 1.0 cm high and in being the one at the top. It best exhibits the morphology of the hydrotheca and the marginal cusps, and even the hydranths. The other specimen on that slide is a paralectotype (BCPM 976-00438-002).

Obelia multidentata was included in the synonymy of O. bidentata Clark, 1875 by Cornelius (1975, 1982). That synonymy has been repeated in the current WoRMS list. As noted earlier (Calder 1991: 72), such a conclusion is incorrect because marginal cusps on the hydrothecal rim are not bimucronate as in O. bidentata . It appears closer to O. longissima ( Pallas, 1766) than to O. bidentata , although marginal cusps appear to be more deeply cut and fluted than in the former species. Detailed re-examination of Fraser’s O. multidentata is warranted to clarify affinities of the species. It was listed as valid in Cairns et al. (2002).