Plumularia strictocarpa Pictet, 1893

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 38

Plumularia strictocarpa Pictet, 1893

Fig. 10f

Plumularia strictocarpa Pictet, 1893: 55 , pl. 3, figs. 47–49.— Jones, 2002: 218.

Type locality. Indonesia: “Baie d’Amboine” ( Pictet 1893) .

Voucher material. Beach north of Jupiter Inlet, 26°56’45”N, 80°04’16”W, washed ashore on a tarball, 20.ii.1991, collected manually, one colony, up to 6 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B1109 .— Sebastian Inlet , 27°51’43”N, 80°26’47”W, washed ashore on Sargassum , 19.ii.1991, collected manually, one colony, up to 8 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B3971 .— 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 6 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B3972 .

Remarks. Plumularia strictocarpa Pictet, 1893 resembles P. setacea ( Linnaeus, 1758) , but its gonothecae are barrel- to cocoon-shaped with spiral annulations instead of being fusiform with smooth walls. Its colonies also tend to be much smaller. It is one of the more abundant species on pelagic Sargassum in the western North Atlantic ( Calder, 1995, 1997).

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. Biscayne Bay ( Jones 2002).

Western Atlantic. From the Gulf Stream off Nova Scotia ( Fraser 1918, on Sargassum , as Plumularia setaceoides Bale, 1882 ) to Brazil (Oliveira et al. submitted), including Bermuda ( Calder 1991a), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Calder & Kirkendale 2005).

Elsewhere. Circumglobal, tropical and subtropical waters ( Kirkendale & Calder 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 10. a, Dentitheca dendritica: part of hydrocladium with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1130, scale equals 0.10 mm. b, Nemertesia simplex: apophysis and basal part of hydrocladium, ROMIZ B1121, scale equals 0.20 mm. c, Nemertesia simplex: part of hydrocladium with hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1121, scale equals 0.10 mm. d, Plumularia floridana: part of hydrocaulus with basal parts of two hydrocladia, and three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1080, scale equals 0.25 mm. e, Plumularia setacea: part of hydrocaulus with basal parts of two hydrocladia, a female gonotheca, and a hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1111, scale equals 0.20 mm. f, Plumularia strictocarpa: part of hydrocaulus with basal parts of two hydrocladia, and three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B3971, scale equals 0.20 mm.