Eucodonium brownei Hartlaub, 1907

Gravili, Cinzia, Vito, Doris De, Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di, Martell, Luis, Piraino, Stefano & Boero, Ferdinando, 2015, The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide, Zootaxa 3908 (1), pp. 1-187 : 21-22

Eucodonium brownei Hartlaub, 1907

Fig. 12

See Schuchert (2009) for a complete synonymy.

Material examined. HCUS-S 0 14 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula)—medusa stage.

Description (based on our own observations; Russell 1953; Brinckmann-Voss 1970; Schuchert, 2009):

Hydroid. Unknown.

Medusa. Umbrella nearly hemispherical, up to 1 mm wide and high, with thin lateral walls and thickened jelly at apex; manubrium attached to a broad and well-developed gastric peduncle, mouth lips containing each a group of about 100 cnidocysts; 4 narrow radial canals and a circular canal; gonads encircling the manubrium without radial interruptions on mature specimens; velum broad; 4 small marginal bulbs; 4 marginal tentacles, cnidocysts along the entire tentacle surface and in terminal swellings; without apparent ocelli; immature animals produce secondary medusae via medusae buds on middle region of manubrium; mature animals without buds. Colours: manubrium blackish brown, marginal bulbs with blackish pigment granules; brownish swellings on tentacles.

Cnidome. Microbasic euryteles on tentacles, heteronemes (microbasic euryteles?) from lips, desmonemes on tentacles.

Habitat type. The medusa can be found close to the water surface ( Brinckmann-Voss 1970, 1987).

Seasonality. July–August (own observations).

Reproductive period. July–August, as mature medusae (own observations).

Distribution. Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Mediterranean ( Medel & López-González 1996; Schuchert 1996, 2009; Bouillon & Barnett 1999; Bouillon et al. 2004; Genzano et al. 2008).

Records in Salento. Rare at S.ta Caterina (Ionian Sea, Apulia).

Remarks. A single medusa from a Salento plankton sample was examined in the present study. Gonad maturation and medusa budding depend on falling temperatures ( Brinckmann-Voss 1970).

References. Picard (1955), Berhaut (1970), Brinckmann-Voss (1970, 1987), Goy (1970, 1973), Benović & Lučić (1996), Medel & López-González (1996), Schuchert (1996, 2009), Bouillon & Barnett (1999), Daly Yahia et al. (2003), Bouillon et al. (2004), Genzano et al. (2008), Touzri et al. (2010).

Figures

FIGURE 12. Eucodonium brownei: medusa (drawn by C. G. Di Camillo). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.