Aglaophenia latecarinata Allman, 1877

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 46-48

Aglaophenia latecarinata Allman, 1877

Fig. 14b

Aglaophenia late-carinata Allman, 1877: 56 [incorrect original spelling].

Aglaophenia latecarinata .— Leloup, 1935: 57.— Fraser, 1944: 378.

Type locality. “ Gulf of Mexico ...attached to Gulf Weed ” ( Allman 1877: 56) .

Voucher material. Off St. Lucie Inlet, 27°10.8’N, 80°02.5’W, 21.6 m, 24.vii.1975, on algae, one colony, cormoids up to 1.4 cm high, without gonophores, coll. T. Askew, ROMIZ B1086 .— Fort Pierce , Fort Pierce Inlet State Park, 27°28’29.5”N, 80°17’25.8”W, on stranded Sargassum fluitans , 14.vii.2012, 28° C, 35‰, collected manually, two colonies, up to 7 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B3978 .

Remarks. Although often reported from hard bottoms, Aglaophenia latecarinata Allman, 1877 is also a conspicuous epibiont of the pelagic gulfweed species Sargassum fluitans ( Calder 1995) . As such it is ubiquitous in the Caribbean Sea (e.g., Leloup 1935; Van Gemerden-Hoogeveen 1965), Gulf of Mexico (e.g., Fraser 1944; Defenbaugh & Hopkins 1973), Florida Current (e.g., Nutting 1895, as Aglaophenia minuta ; Bogle 1975), Gulf Stream (e.g., Burkenroad, in Parr 1939, as A. minuta ; Rackley 1974), and Sargasso Sea (e.g., Broch 1913; Leloup 1937). Colonies on gulfweed are stunted, as with certain other Sargassum associates ( Adams 1960), and they typically reach only about a centimeter in height on that substrate. While the species tends to be a dominant hydroid on S. fluitans , it is much less frequent on S. natans , the other holopelagic species of gulfweed in the North Atlantic ( Calder 1995). Hydroids of A. latecarinata are known to occur as well on flotsam such as plastics ( Calder 1997).

The troubled nomenclature and extensive synonymy of this species have been reviewed elsewhere ( Bogle 1975; Calder 1997; Ansín Agís et al. 2001). The last group of authors also provided detailed distribution records.

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. Hollywood, near Miami ( Leloup 1935; Fraser 1944).

Western Atlantic. New England, on pelagic Sargassum ( Fraser 1944) , to Brazil (Oliveira et al. submitted), and including Bermuda and the Sargasso Sea ( Jäderholm 1896; Calder 1993), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Galea 2010).

Elsewhere. Warm waters of the eastern Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and western Pacific ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Park 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 14. a, Aglaophenia dubia: part of a hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1125, scale equals 0.10 mm. b, Aglaophenia latecarinata: part of a hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1086, scale equals 0.10 mm. c, Aglaophenia rhynchocarpa: part of a hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1083, scale equals 0.10 mm. d, Aglaophenia trifida: part of a hydrocladium with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1086, scale equals 0.10 mm. e, Gymnangium speciosum: part of a hydrocladium with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1131, scale equals 0.20 mm. f, Macrorhynchia allmani: part of a hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B3982, scale equals 0.10 mm. g, Macrorhynchia clarkei: part of a hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1129, scale equals 0.10 mm. h, Macrorhynchia clarkei: a single phylactogonium from a pseudocorbula, ROMIZ B1129, scale equals 0.25 mm. i, Macrorhynchia philippina: part of a hydrocladium with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1092. Scale equals 0.10 mm.