Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants, 1979

Cantero, Álvaro Luis Peña, 2023, On some benthic hydroids from New Zealand deep waters, with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5389 (2), pp. 241-252 : 242-244

Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants, 1979

( Fig. 2a )

Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants, 1979: 52 , pl. 9 fig. 5A, B; Peña Cantero et al., 2007: 258–261 , figs. 12, 16D, 18D, 19E; Peña Cantero, 2020: 288–291 , figs. 1E, 6B, 7E.

Acryptolaria patagonica El Beshbeeshy, 1991: 67–70 , fig. 14 (nomen nudum).

Acryptolaria patagonica El Beshbeeshy, 2011: 57–59 , fig. 13; Vervoort & Watson, 2003: 51–53, fig. 7A–G.

Material examined. TAN1412/60, a broken colony, largest fragment 30 mm long, no coppiniae ( NIWA 98619).

Measurements (in µm). Hydrotheca: abcauline length 1850, free adcauline length 900, adnate adcauline length 1200, adcauline length 2100, diameter at aperture 380–400. Cnidome: larger microbasic mastigophores 14.0–16.0 x 4.0–5.0.

Remarks. This is a well-characterised species, easily identifiable by the shape and large size of the hydrotheca and the small size of the larger microbasic mastigophores.

Acryptolaria patagonica El Beshbeeshy, 1991 is a nomen nudum ( Peña Cantero et al. 2007; Miranda et al. 2016), corrected and made available in El Beshbeeshy (2011) (see Miranda et al. 2016). Nevertheless, A. patagonica was demonstrated to be conspecific with A. operculata by Peña Cantero et al. (2007), therefore constituting a junior synonym of Stepanjants’ species.

Ecology and distribution. Present material collected at a depth of 363 m, NE off Campbell Island. Already known from the region, where it has been reported from New Zealand waters ( Vervoort & Watson 2003) and the Tasman Sea ( Peña Cantero 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 2. (a) Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants, 1979: a, distal part of hydrotheca. (b–g) Hebella macroplana Watson, 2019: b, hydrotheca; c, distal part of hydrotheca; d, pedicel and basal part of hydrotheca; e, diaphragm (downward arrow) and ring of desmocytes (upward arrow); f, gonotheca (lateral view); g, gonotheca (frontal view). Scale bar: 50 µm (e), 200 µm (a−d, f–g).