Aglaophenia longiramosa Fraser, 1945a

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 : 58-59

Aglaophenia longiramosa Fraser, 1945a

Aglaophenia allmani Nutting, 1900: 100 , pl. 22, figs. 2, 3 [replacement name for Aglaophenia ramosa Αllman, 1877, not A. ramosa ( Busk, 1852) ].

Aglaophenia longiramosa Fraser, 1945a: 22 , figs. 2a–c.

Macrorhynchia allmani .— Cairns et al., 1991: 29.

Holotype. USNM 43463: USA, Florida, Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, R/V Pelican Sta. 142-5, 29°58’N, 86°03’W, 0 4 March 1939, one colony with many detached hydrocladia, ca. 12 cm high, in very good condition, without gonophores, labelled “ type ”; ethanol.

Paratype. BCPM 976-00788-001: USA, Alabama, off Mobile Bay, 29°58’N, 88°03’W (corrected to 29°58’N, 86°03’W), 16 fm (29 m), one colony fragment, 7 cm high, in rather poor condition, without gonothecae; dry (but see Remarks below).

Type locality. USA, Florida: R/V Pelican Sta. 142-5, Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, 29°58’N, 86°03’W; “ U.S. N.M. 43463” ( Fraser 1945a).

Current status. Invalid.

Remarks. Fraser (1945a) designated material at the NMNH (USNM 43463) as the “ type ” of Aglaophenia longiramosa . That collection was thereby fixed as the name-bearing type of the species. It is currently listed as syntype material in the online database of the NMNH, but the single colony in the collection constitutes a holotype. A specimen of the species in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00788-001), from the same location, was not fixed as a name-bearing type. The hydroid, now dry, is a paratype (ICZN Art. 72.1.3).

In the original description of Aglaophenia longiramosa by Fraser (1945a), and in a record of the species in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM ( BCPM 976-00788-001 ) by Arai (1977), locality data are given as Pelican Sta. 142-5, 29°58’N, 88°03’W, 16 fm (29 m). In being in the Gulf of Mexico off Mobile Bay , Alabama, that does not coincide with location data accompanying the holotype ( USNM 43463 ) in the NMNH online database. The latter, centroid latitude 29.9667, longitude -86.05 (29°58’N, 86°03’W), Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, Florida, is accepted here as being correct. Additional supportive evidence is provided by location data on a label with the specimen (29°58’N, 86°03’W) . It is likely that the discrepancy is due to a typographical error in the longitude record (88°03’W instead of 86°03’W).

Another sample of the species at the NMNH (USNM 70027), from a station off the coast of southern South Carolina, was not mentioned in the original description of the species and is not type material. While Fraser (1947a) reported A. longiramosa only from off northern Georgia, a geographically equivalent location, it does not accord with the type locality of A. longiramosa .

Bogle (1975) and Calder (1997) regarded Aglaophenia longiramosa as probably conspecific with Macrorhynchia allmani ( Nutting, 1900) . The binomen M. allmani is a replacement name for Aglaophenia ramosa Allman, 1877 , a junior secondary homonym of A. ramosa ( Busk, 1852) . Although secondary homonymy no longer exists, with the junior name now assigned to Macrorhynchia Kirchenpauer, 1872 , the name M. allmani is nevertheless valid under the Code (ICZN Art. 59.3) (see Calder 1997: 65).