Eudendrium speciosum 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 : 24-25

Eudendrium speciosum Fraser, 1945a

Eudendrium speciosum Fraser, 1945a: 22 , figs. 1a, b.

Holotype. USNM 43464 : USA, Gulf of Mexico, Florida , Pensacola, Santa Rosa Sound, 0 7 August 1942, one colony, 3.5 cm high, in poor condition, without hydranths, without gonophores, coll. E.H. Behre, labelled “ type ”; ethanol.

Paratype. BCPM 976-00251-001: USA, Florida, Santa Rosa Sound, shore, several colony fragments, up to 3.1 cm high, in fair to fairly good condition, with male gonophores; 60% IPA.

Type locality. USA, Florida: Pensacola, Santa Rosa Sound ( Fraser 1945a).

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. Fraser (1945a) established Eudendrium speciosum for a species found in a small collection of hydroids received for identification from staff at the NMNH. The “ type ” designated by him (USNM 43464) is listed in the current online database of that museum as syntype material, but a single colony is present. It is therefore the holotype of the species. The specimen is in poor condition and may have been dry some time in the past. Additional material of the species exists in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00251- 001), but in not having been fixed as a name-bearing type it is taken here to be a paratype (ICZN Art. 72.1.3). By mistake, Arai (1977) reported the type locality of E. speciosum , Santa Rosa Sound, to be in Louisiana rather than Florida.

Eudendrium speciosum is known only from the original description. It is listed as valid in Calder & Cairns (2009) and WoRMS, but its taxonomic status needs to be clarified.