Halecium pygmaeum Fraser, 1911

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 : 34

Halecium pygmaeum Fraser, 1911

Halecium mirabile Schydlowsky, 1902: 233 , pl. 3, figs. 25, 26.

Halecium pygmaeum Fraser, 1911: 48 , pl. 4, figs. 1, 2.

Type material. None known to exist.

Type locality. USA, Washington: San Juan Archipelago ( Fraser 1911).

Current status. Invalid.

Remarks. Fraser (1911: 48) based his description of this small species on hydroids in the collection of Prof. Trevor Kincaid (1872–1970) of the University of Washington. No types are known to exist. Specimens of the species from the San Juan Archipelago at the NMNH (USNM 70852: USA, Washington, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Port Townsend, coll. H. Moon; ethanol) are from a different collection (that of H. Moon; Fraser 1911: 4) and are not believed by us to constitute type material. Another collection of the species exists at the NMNH (USNM 43655), but there is no evidence that T. Kincaid was the collector. Non-type specimens also exist in the Fraser collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00491-001: China Hat, 21 August 1912; BCPM 976-00491-002 and BCPM 976-00491-003: China Hat; BCPM 976-00492-001: Hayama, Sagami Bay, September 17, 1933) (Arai 1977). Only female gonothecae were observed originally. Those of the male were described later ( Fraser 1914a; 1937a).

Halecium pygmaeum Fraser, 1911 is listed in WoRMS as a junior subjective synonym of Halecium mirabile Schydlowsky, 1902 . Hirohito (1995) recognized it as a valid species, but noted its similarity to H. repens Jäderholm, 1907 . In some works ( Dons 1912; Broch 1918; Schuchert 2001a), H. mirabile and H. repens have been regarded as synonyms or questionable synonyms of H. curvicaule Lorenz, 1886 .