Ophiodes gracilis Fraser, 1914a

Calder, Dale R. & Choong, Henry H. C., 2018, Names of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) established by Charles McLean Fraser (1872 - 1946), excluding those from Allan Hancock Expeditions, Zootaxa 4487 (1), pp. 1-83 : 36-37

Ophiodes gracilis Fraser, 1914a

Ophiodes gracilis Fraser, 1914a: 171 , pl. 22, figs. 82Α–D.

Diplocyathus gracilis .— Leloup, 1930: 6.

Ophiodissa gracilis .— Fraser, 1937a: 114, pl. 23, figs. 129a–d.

Plumularia magellanica moneroni Naumov, 1960: 462 , fig. 351.

Not Hydrodendron gracilis .— Millard, 1973: 973: 33, figs. 6F, G; 1975: 164, figs. 53E–J.

Hydrodendron gracile .— Rees & Vervoort, 1987: 20.

Type material. None known to exist.

Type locality. Canada, British Columbia: Clarke Rock; Pylades Channel; Rose Spit ( Graham Island , Haida Gwaii ) ( Fraser 1914a).

Current status. Valid, as Hydrodendron gracile ( Fraser, 1914a) , although the species needs reassessment.

Remarks. The only material of Ophiodes gracilis Fraser, 1914a in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00510-001: Canada, British Columbia, Houston Stewart Channel) is not from any of the type localities listed by Fraser (1914a) and is not part of the type series. Instead, it is from later collections made in Houston Stewart Channel, a passage separating Moresby and Kunghit islands in the Queen Charlotte Islands (=Haida Gwaii) ( Fraser 1936b).

Fraser’s (1914a) account of this hydroid, assigned by Rees & Vervoort (1987) to Hydrodendron Hincks, 1874 as H. gracile , was based on sterile material. Specimens examined by Antsulevich (1987, 2015) from the Pacific coast of the Russian Federation lacked gonophores as well. Meanwhile, fertile hydroids assigned to the species by Millard (1973, 1975, as H. gracilis ) are unlikely to have been conspecific. Indeed, records of H. gracile outside the boreal North Pacific, and especially from tropical waters, need to be re-considered. Hydroids of this species, identified as Plumularia magellanica moneroni by Naumov (1960) from Tatar Strait (Gulf of Tatary), Russian Federation, are almost certain to be distinct from Plumularia magellanica Hartlaub, 1905 (= Kirchenpaueria magellanica ) (Horia R. Galea, personal communication, 22 March 2018). Naumov’s specimens were also sterile.

The species was included as H. gracile in Cairns et al. (2002) , following Rees & Vervoort (1987), and as H. gracilis in the current WoRMS list. When combined with the genus Hydrodendron (gender: neuter), the specific name must agree in gender and becomes gracile instead of gracilis ( Rees & Vervoort 1987) .