Corymorpha adventitia Fraser, 1941b

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 : 16-17

Corymorpha adventitia Fraser, 1941b

Corymorpha adventitia Fraser, 1941b: 79 , pl. 13, figs. 3a, b.

Syntypes. USNM 43452: Panama, Gulf of Panama, Panama Bay, Perico Island, 8°55’N, 79°31’W, 12 March 1891, three colony fragments, with hydranths or fragments of hydranths, labelled “ type ”; ethanol.

Lectotype, by present designation. USNM 43452: Panama, Gulf of Panama, Panama Bay, Perico Island, 8°55’N, 79°31’W, 12 March 1891, one colony fragment with a hydranth, in only fair condition, with gonophores, labelled “ type ”; ethanol.

Paralectotypes. USNM 1458875: Panama, Gulf of Panama, Panama Bay, Perico Island, 8°55’N, 79°31’W, 12 March 1891, two colony fragments with hydranths or fragments of hydranths, in only fair condition, with gonophores; ethanol.

Type locality. Panama: Gulf of Panama, off Perico Island, 8°55’N, 79°31’W (see Remarks section below).

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. Fraser (1941b) indicated examining more than one specimen (“Zooids 20 mm.…”) in describing Corymorpha adventitia , and his “ type ” of the species at the NMNH (USNM 43452) indeed comprises fragments of what appear to be at least two polyps (syntypes). The best specimen, with a hydrocaulus and a hydranth with gonophores, is designated here as the lectotype (USNM 43452). The other fragments have been isolated and assigned paralectotype status (USNM 1458875). The paralectotype polyp appears to match the hydroid illustrated by Fraser (1941b, pl. 13, figs. 3a, b) in describing the species, but it is not in as good condition now as the lectotype. No specimens of the species are reported in collections at the AMNH, CAS, MCZ, RBCM, or YPM.

Two different collection localities have been given for Corymorpha adventitia . According to Fraser (1941b), the hydroid was present in a vial labelled “U.S.F.C. Str. Albatross, Panama, Mar. 12, 1891 ” but no station was listed on that day from the cruise. Fraser thereupon recorded as its locality the last haul made the previous day (off Darién, 7°33' N, 78°34'20" W, 155 m) . A different locality in the Gulf of Panama ( Perico Island , near Panama City), recorded in the NMNH database as Albatross Station 234, is taken here to be correct. Labels with the holotype specimen mark 12 March 1891 as the date of collection, but one of them confirms that the collection was from Albatross Station 234.

Vervoort (2009) restated the morphological characters of C. adventitia , a species he regarded as insufficiently described. It is not currently listed in WoRMS. Examination of type material shows that this hydroid is a species of Ralpharia Watson, 1980 , and it is here assigned the binomen R. adventitia . Its relationship to other known species of the genus needs to be explored. To the north, Ralpharia multitentaculata ( Fraser, 1938a) is known from the coast of Baja California, Mexico (Calder et al. 2009). Across the Isthmus of Panama, Ralpharia gorgoniae Petersen, 1990 occurs on the Atlantic coast of Panama ( Calder & Kirkendale 2005) and is widely distributed elsewhere in the Caribbean region (e.g., Galea 2013, Galea & Ferry 2015). Representatives of the genus occur essentially worldwide in warm seas.