Abietinaria rigida 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 : 42-43

Abietinaria rigida Fraser, 1911

Abietinaria rigida Fraser, 1911: 61 , pl. 5, figs. 1–3.

Syntypes. USNM 68653 : USA, Washington, San Juan Islands , numerous colonies and colony fragments, condition varying from poor to fairly good, gonothecae very scarce, with multiple other hydroid species, coll. Trevor Kincaid; ethanol.

BCPM 976-00531-001 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 1.4 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonothecae; slide.

BCPM 976-00531-002 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 0.8 cm high, in rather poor condition, without gonothecae; slide.

Lectotype, by present designation. USNM 68653 : USA, Washington, San Juan Islands , one colony, 6.4 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonothecae, coll. Trevor Kincaid; ethanol.

Paralectotypes. USNM 1458918 : USA, Washington, San Juan Islands , numerous colonies and colony fragments, condition varying from poor to fairly good, gonothecae very scarce, with multiple other hydroid species, coll. Trevor Kincaid; ethanol.

BCPM 976-00531-001 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 1.4 cm high, in fairly good condition, without gonothecae; slide.

BCPM 976-00531-002 : USA, Washington, San Juan Archipelago , one colony fragment, 0.8 cm high, in rather poor condition, without gonothecae; slide.

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

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. In describing Abietinaria rigida, Fraser (1911: 62) recorded its distribution from two locations: “Albatross Station 2865, N. 48°12’, W. 122°51’, 48 fathoms (in collection of the State University of Iowa); San Juan Archipelago”. While preparing his account of it as a graduate student at Iowa, he examined two collections of hydroids from the San Juan Archipelago in the possession of Prof. C.C. Nutting, one of them acquired from Mr. H. Moon and another from Prof. Trevor Kincaid. As noted earlier ( Calder 2004), collections in Nutting’s possession were subsequently transferred to the NMNH. Although not indicated as a type in the online database of that museum, material of A. rigida at the NMNH (USNM 68653) matching both the type locality (San Juan Islands) and the collector (T. Kincaid) is considered part of the syntype series of the species here. So too are specimens on two slides from the same locality in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00531-001, BCPM 976- 00531-002). Others at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00532-001: Houston Stewart Channel, off Rose Harbour, 23 August 1935; BCPM 976-00533-001: W of Goose Island, 26 July 1936, 64 m; BCPM 976-00534-001: Haida Gwaii, Graham Island, 4.8 km off Sadler Point, 29 July 1936, 55 m; BCPM 976-00535-001: off Masset Inlet, 30 July 1936, 82 m) are certainly not part of the type series. Likewise, a collection of A. rigida at CAS (CAS-IZ 15 183.00) from the San Juan Islands is not type material in having been collected during 1918.

After examining all of the syntypes listed above, we designate a colony at the NMNH ( USNM 68653 ) as the lectotype of Abietinaria rigida . In our opinion, it best reflects the distinctive characters of the species. Although the colony lacks gonothecae, few gonothecae were observed in the entire syntype series and all were on single detached branches. Such specimens were considered unsatisfactory for lectotype designation. The designation restricts the type locality of the species to the San Juan Archipelago, USA. The remaining specimens in the original syntype collection at the NMNH are paralectotypes ( USNM 1458918 ), as are those at the RBCM ( BCPM 976- 00531-001 , BCPM 976-00531-002 ) .

Hydroids of Abietinaria rigida were reportedly “…plentiful in the San Juan Archipelago” ( Fraser 1911). The species is regarded as valid ( Cairns et al. 2002; WoRMS).