Lictorella crassicaulis Fraser, 1943a

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 : 37-38

Lictorella crassicaulis Fraser, 1943a

Lictorella crassicaulis Fraser, 1943a: 80 , pl. 18, fig. 9.

Zygophylax crassicaulis .— Rees & Vervoort, 1987: 82.

Holotype: MCZ-IZ 9010-a: Barbados, USCSS Blake , 13°11’54”N, 59°38’45”W, 73 fm (134 m), 0 9 March 1879, several fragments of a single colony, in fairly good condition, without gonophores, coll. A. Agassiz, labelled “ type ”; 70% ethanol + fragment on SEM stub.

Type locality. Barbados: Blake Expedition Sta. 290, 13°11’54”N, 59°38’45”W, 73 fm (134 m) ( Fraser 1943a).

Current status. Valid, as Zygophylax crassicaulis ( Fraser, 1943a) .

Remarks. Fraser (1943a) described Lictorella crassicaulis from a collection sent to him from the MCZ. No type for it was designated by him in that paper, but material of the species exists at the MCZ in both ethanol and on a SEM stub. That collection (MCZ-IZ 9010-a) is from the type locality, and it contains labels marked “ type ” and “ Lictorella crassicaulis Fraser ” (in Fraser’s handwriting). Rees & Vervoort (1987) referred to the collection as the “ type series”, but we consider it to consist of fragments of a single colony. A specimen count of “1” is given in the MCZ online database, and it seems certain that the fragment on the SEM stub was taken from it. No other type material is known to exist. We therefore regard the MCZ specimen as the holotype by monotypy (ICZN Art. 73.1.2). The colony described by Fraser was said to be 6 cm in height. Although its polysiphonic hydrocaulus is now broken into several pieces, and some of the hydrocladia are detached, the specimen is otherwise in reasonably good condition. The specific name of this hydroid is currently misspelled crassicaulus on most of the labels accompanying the specimen, and also in the MCZ online database.

Zygophylax crassicaulis is known only from its type locality off the west coast of Barbados. Fraser (1943a) did not observe the gonosome in describing this hydroid. The species has been taken to be valid by Rees & Vervoort (1987) and WoRMS.