Thuiaria alba 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 : 46-48

Thuiaria alba Fraser, 1911

Thuiaria alba Fraser, 1911: 74 , pl. 7, figs. 1, 2.

Salacia alba .— Cairns et al., 1991: 26.

Syntypes. USNM 70821 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , 1904, Sta. 32, one colony with distal end detached and some detached hydrocladia, total length 5.6 cm high, in fair condition, without gonophores, coll. H. Moon; ethanol.

USNM 70876: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, 1904, Sta. 38, one colony with distal end detached and some detached hydrocladia, total length ca. 3.9 cm, in fairly poor condition, without gonophores; ethanol.

USNM 70903 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , Sta. 83, four colonies or colony fragments with some detached hydrocladia, up to 5.8 cm high, in fair condition, without gonophores, with other species of sertulariids, coll. H. Moon; ethanol.

USNM 71143 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, San Juan Island ,>10 colonies or colony fragments and many detached hydrocladia, up to 3.2 cm high, in from fairly good to poor condition, without gonophores, with other species of hydroids, coll. T. Kincaid; ethanol.

BCPM 976-00688-001: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, several colony fragments, up to 2.3 cm high, without gonophores; 60% IPA (not seen in collection).

BCPM 976-00688-002: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, several colony fragments, 2.9 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonophores; 60% IPA.

BCPM 976-00688-003 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 1.1 cm high, in good condition, with developing gonothecae; slide.

BCPM 976-00688-004 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago ; slide (missing from slide box).

Lectotype, by present designation. USNM 70903 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , Sta. 83, one colony, 4.6 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonophores, coll. H. Moon; ethanol.

Paralectotypes. USNM 1458895 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , Sta. 83, three colonies or colony fragments with some detached hydrocladia, up to 5.8 cm high, in fair to fairly good condition, without gonophores, with other species of sertulariids, coll. H. Moon; ethanol.

USNM 70821 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , 1904, Sta. 32, one colony with distal tip detached and with some detached hydrocladia, total length 5.6 cm high, in fair condition, without gonophores, coll. H. Moon; ethanol.

USNM 70876: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, 1904, Sta. 38, one colony with distal tip detached and with some detached hydrocladia, total length ca. 3.9 cm, in fairly poor condition, without gonophores; ethanol.

USNM 71143 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, San Juan Island ,>10 colonies or colony fragments and many detached hydrocladia, up to 3.2 cm high, varying from fairly good to poor condition, without gonophores, with other species of hydroids, coll. T. Kincaid; ethanol.

BCPM 976-00688-001: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, several colony fragments, up to 2.3 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonophores; 60% IPA.

BCPM 976-00688-002: USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago, several colony fragments, up to 2.9 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonophores; 60% IPA.

BCPM 976-00688-003 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 1.1 cm high, in good condition, with developing gonothecae; slide.

BCPM 976-00688-004 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago ; slide (missing from slide box).

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

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. Fraser (1911) described Thuiaria alba based on hydroids from the San Juan Archipelago in collections of both Mr. H. Moon and Prof. T. Kincaid. At the time, both collections were in the possession of C.C. Nutting at the University of Iowa. As noted previously, Nutting’s collections were later transferred to the NMNH in Washington. While no types were designated by Fraser, data accompanying the four collections at the NMNH noted above (USNM 70821, USNM 70876, USNM 70903, USNM 71143) correspond with information on T. alba in his paper. All are regarded here as syntypes. A single colony from one of the collections (USNM 70903) has been selected as the lectotype of the species. The remaining specimens in that collection (now assigned the number USNM 1458895), and all the others (USNM 70821, USNM 70876, USNM 71143), are paralectotypes.

Also considered part of the original type series of T. alba by us, and designated herein as paralectotypes, are four samples of the species from the same region in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM ( BCPM 976- 00688-001 , BCPM 976-00688-002 , BCPM 976-00688-003 , BCPM 976-00688-004 ). These were almost certainly prepared by Fraser from the same San Juan Archipelago collections. Others at the RBCM are from outside the type locality, or were collected after the species was established, and are not types ( BCPM 976-00689-001 : Friday Harbor, July 1912; BCPM 976-00691-001 : Alert Bay , 20 August 1912, 22 m; BCPM 976-00692-001 and BCPM 976-00692-002 : Houston Stewart Channel off Rose Harbour, 23 August 1935) . Also not part of the type series is a sample from Port Townsend, Washington ( BCPM 976-00690-001 ). Gonothecae were present on those hydroids ( Arai 1977), and Fraser did not observe the gonosome in originally describing the species. However , a developing gonotheca was observed during our study on one of the paralectotypes ( BCPM 976-00688-003 ).

This species is currently taken to be valid, as Thuiaria alba , by Cairns et al. (2002). While listed as Salacia alba in Bouillon et al. (2006) and WoRMS, an abcauline diverticulum is present in the species (observed here in BCPM 976-00688-004), consistent with the current diagnosis of Thuiaria Fleming, 1828 .