Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae (Billard, 1906)

Gil, Marta, Ramil, Fran & Agís, José Ansín, 2020, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds, Zootaxa 4878 (3), pp. 412-466 : 435-436

Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae (Billard, 1906)

( Fig. 12 A–B)

Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 151–156 , figs. 39d–g, 40b, e; Ansín Agís et al., 2001: 175–178, fig. 72. Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae simplex: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 156–158 , figs. 39a–c, 40a, c, d.

Kirchenpaueria triangulata: Millard, 1975: 375–376 , fig. 119E–H; Rees & Vervoort, 1987: 129–132, fig.27.

Material examined. MAURIT-0911, stn MUDR01 , 16º08´24”N, 16º57´12”W, 488 m, 5-XII-2009: one colony, on Polyplumaria flabellata , with gonothecae .

MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR19 , 16º09´06”N, 16º56´50”W, 561 m, 7-XII-2010: one colony, on Polyplumaria flabellata , no gonothecae .

MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR20 , 16º08´11”N, 16º56´08”W, 405 m, 7-XII-2010: three colonies, all on Polyplumaria flabellata , one colony with gonothecae .

Biology. This species has been usually collected epibiont on other hydroids; fertile material has been found in February, April, June, July, October and December ( Ramil et al. 1998; Ansín Agís et al. 2001).

In our material, colonies were growing on P. flabellata ; gonothecae were obtained in December.

Distribution. Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae is widely distributed in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, with some scattered records in the West Pacific ( Ansín Agís et al. 2014). In the Atlantic, its distribution is restricted to the east side, from Norway to South Africa, including the southern part of Alboran Sea in the West Mediterranean. On West African coast, it was collected specifically from Morocco ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a) and Cape Verde region ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001). Its bathymetric range extends from 11 to 1280 m ( Ramil et al. 1998; Ansín Agís et al. 2001).

Our material was collected from depths of 405 to 561 m.

Remarks. This species shows some variability in the number of nematothecae per internode and by the absence of hydrocladia in some colonies ( Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae simplex Billard, 1930 ); our material is identical with those described by Ramil & Vervoort (1992) and Ansín Agís et al. (2001) from the Gibraltar region and Cape Verde Islands.

Figures

FIGURE 12. A–B, Kirchenpaueria bonnevieae (Billard, 1906) (stn MUDR01): A, part of hydrocladium. B, gonotheca. C, Polyplumaria flabellata Sars, 1874 (stn MUDR01), part of hydrocladium. D, Plumularia filicula (stn MUDR01), part of colony with gonotheca. Scales: a–d = 0.5 mm.