Halecium lankesterii ( Bourne, 1890 )

Schuchert, Peter, 2005, Taxonomic revision and systematic notes on some Halecium species (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa), Journal of Natural History 39 (8), pp. 607-639 : 618-620

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930400001319

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/4B6087F1-8B46-FFC4-CBE4-FBF6FE2BFEA5

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Halecium lankesterii ( Bourne, 1890 )
status

 

Halecium lankesterii ( Bourne, 1890) View in CoL

( Figure 7 View Figure 7 )

Halecium robustum Pieper 1884, p 166 View in CoL ; Broch 1912, p 14, Figure 1 View Figure 1 ; Babić 1913, p 470, Figures 4–6 View Figure 4 View Figure 5 View Figure 6 ; Bedot 1914, p 82, Plate 5 Figure 6 View Figure 6 .

[Not Halecium robustum Verrill View in CoL 18745 Zygophylax pinnata (G. O. Sars 1874) .]

Haloikema lankesterii Bourne 1890, p 396 View in CoL , Plate 26 Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 2 View Figure 2 .

Halecium sessile View in CoL var. Billard 1904, p 160.

Halecium ophioides: Babić 1910 , Plate 1 Figure 1b View Figure 1 ; Babić 1913, p 469, footnote.

? Not Halecium lankesterii: Hamond 1957, p 302 View in CoL , Figures 9 View Figure 9 , 10 View Figure 10 ; Vervoort 1959, p 221, Figures 3–5 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 View Figure 5 ; Millard 1975, p 153, Figure 50B–E; Cornelius 1995, p 285, Figure 65.

Halecium lankesteri: Bedot 1911, p 213 View in CoL , Plate 11, Figures 1–5 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 View Figure 5 ; Peña Cantero and García Carrascosa 2002, p 66, Figure 13 View Figure 13 a–c.

Material examined

MHNG INVE 33471 , as Halecium lankesteri , France, Brittany, Roscoff , coll. 6 July 1912 by M. Bedot, mentioned in Bedot (1914), with female gonothecae. MHNG INVE 33478 , as Halecium robustum, Roscoff , 1 June 1910, leg. M. Bedot. MHNG INVE 33479 Halecium robustum, Roscoff , May 1910, leg. M. Bedot. MHNG INVE 33480 , as Halecium robustum, Roscoff , 6 May 1910, leg. M. Bedot.

Description

Colonies erect, stems unbranched or sparingly branched, up to 8 mm high and with up to 40 hydranths. Stems arise from creeping hydrorhiza. Stems always monosiphonic, irregularly segmented, regularly with intercalated segments without hydrotheca, these internodes short and with two marked bulges at their ends ( Figure 7C View Figure 7 ). Internodes generally short and stout, sides often undulated. Hydrotheca sitting at the end of segment like a prolongation of it, rim perpendicular to segment axis. One or two side-branches, if present, arising immediately below hydrotheca, angles quite acute ( Figure 7D View Figure 7 ). Hydrotheca with slightly diverging wall, these quite straight, not curved; diameter at level of diaphragm 0.15–0.17 mm, depth 30–45 mm. Secondary hydrothecae present, with hydrophore. Hydranths with 20–24 tentacles, body and tentacles containing zooxanthellae. Gonothecae arising from within primary hydrothecae. Female gonotheca pear-shaped, about 0.8–0.9 mm long, slightly compressed, opening on side, formed by a short, vertical, completely adnate tube with a median septum, opening without distinct hydrotheca, but rim with some desmocytes; opening plane perpendicular to long axis of gonotheca; two protruding hydranths present; about three eggs per gonotheca. Male gonotheca not observed; according to Babić (1913) oblong ellipsoid, 0.68–0.85 mm long, smooth, without hydranths.

Distribution

Mediterranean, tropical and subtropical eastern Atlantic, English Channel , North Sea , South Africa, Moçambique. Type localities: near Plymouth, England (details in Cornelius 1975) .

Remarks

The type material of Bourne (1890) did not include gonothecae, a character usually indispensible for a correct identification of Halecium species. Two other traits, however, allow recognition of the species. This is for one the presence of zooxanthellae, for the other the segmentation pattern with its short, ahydrothecate segments with bulging ends (or segments constricted in the middle). Bourne’s material had both characteristics. Babić (1913) and Bedot (1914) described fertile material. Later authors, like Vervoort (1959), Millard (1975) and Cornelius (1995), also included material lacking zooxanthellae and with smooth perisarc. The female gonothecae depicted by Hamond (1957), Vervoort (1959) and Cornelius (1975, 1995) differ from the one depicted in Figure 7E View Figure 7 and they appear identical to that of H. beanii ( Figure 5G View Figure 5 ). The egg number is also higher than usually found in H. lankesterii . These differences prompted Peña Cantero and García Carrascosa (2002) to postulate that the mentioned material of Cornelius and Vervoort actually belonged to a different, so far unnamed species. I concur with Peña Cantero and García Carrascosa (2002). The occurrence of fertile, monosiphonic stems of Halecium beanii (see under this species) led me to suspect that the material of Hamond (1957), Vervoort (1959) and Cornelius (1975, 1995) was actually composed of monosiphonic colonies of H. beanii . Hamond (1957) acknowledged that H. beanii and H. lankesterii resemble each other very closely, but he insisted that they are distinct. He kept them apart on account of the sharply curved side-branches. His colony in Figure 9 View Figure 9 resembles more H. lankesterii and it thus appears that his material contained indeed some H. lankesterii besides monosiphonic H. beanii .

Halecium lankesterii also occurs in the Mediterranean and can be confounded with H. petrosum if no female gonothecae are present. The presence of zooxanthellae, the wider hydrothecae and the characteristic ahydrothecate segments of H. lankesterii help to distinguish them (compare Figures 7 View Figure 7 and 8 View Figure 8 ).

Halecium nanum Alder, 1859 View in CoL resembles closely H. lankesterii View in CoL as described above. Both have zooxanthellae in their tissue. The female gonotheca of H. nanum View in CoL has two hydrothecae that reach to the distal end ( Calder 1991), while they end roughly in the middle in H. lankesterii View in CoL . Their different ecology additionally suggests that they are likely separate species. Halecium nanum View in CoL is usually epiphytic, mostly occurring on pelagic Sargassum sp. in warmer waters of the Atlantic. Cornelius (1995) thought that it might be wider spread and occur on a wider range of substrata.

MHNG

Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Cnidaria

Class

Hydrozoa

Order

Leptothecata

Family

Haleciidae

Genus

Halecium

Loc

Halecium lankesterii ( Bourne, 1890 )

Schuchert, Peter 2005
2005
Loc

Halecium lankesterii

: Hamond 1957: 302
1957
Loc

Halecium lankesteri

: Bedot 1911: 213
1911
Loc

Halecium ophioides: Babić 1910

Babic 1910
1910
Loc

Haloikema lankesterii

Bourne 1890: 396
1890
Loc

Halecium robustum

Pieper 1884: 166
1884
Loc

Halecium robustum

Verrill 1873
1873
Loc

Halecium sessile

Norman 1867
1867
Loc

Halecium nanum

Alder 1859
1859
Loc

H. nanum

Alder 1859
1859
Loc

Halecium nanum

Alder 1859
1859
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