Primnoella scotiae Thomson & Ritchie, 1906

Schejter, L., Genzano, G., Pérez, C. D., Acuña, F., Cordeiro, R. T. S., Silva, R. A., Garese, A. & Bremec, C. S., 2020, Checklist of Benthic Cnidaria in the SW Atlantic Ocean (54 ºS- 56 ºS), Zootaxa 4878 (2), pp. 201-239 : 224

Primnoella scotiae Thomson & Ritchie, 1906

Material examined: BBB 2016: St. 12; St. 13; St. 21; St. 28; St. 23; St. 26; St. 27; St. 32; St. 34; St. 38; St. 40. PD BB 2017: St. 5; St. 14; St. 16; St. 21; St. 23; St. 28; St. 30; St. 34; St. 35. GARCÍA 2015: St. 17bis ( Fig. 2I ) (MACN-In: 43505, 43506, 43507, 43508, 43509, 43510, 43511, 43512).

Distribution: Mar del Plata (37º36’S, 54º46’W, 740 m) ( Argentina) ( Tixier-Durivault 1969 –70 as Primnoella compressa ); off of Río de la Plata ( Uruguay) (35°30’S, 52°50’W, 35°03’S, 52°45’W, 196–263 m) and Tierra del Fuego ( Argentina) (54°23’S, 65°42’W, 164 m) ( Pérez & Zamponi 2004 as P. compressa ); Burdwood bank (54°25’S, 57°32’W, 95 m) ( Thomson & Ritchie 1906); Iquique, Chile ( Kükenthal 1919, as P. compressa ); South Orkney Islands (60°14’30”S, 45°13’80”W, 8–12 m) ( Peck & Brockington 2013); Off Chubut, Argentina ( Patiño Cano 2013); off Staten Is., Burdwood bank (90–785 m) (present study).

Remarks: A recent study included this species in the feeding preferences of the nudibranch Tritonia odhneri ( García-Matucheski & Muniain 2011) ; a second had addressed its growth and included it as prey for the sea anemone Dactylanthus antarcticus ( Peck & Brockington 2013) . Several colonies presented epibionts like hydroids, bryozoans and ophiuroids. It was frequent in several stations of the current study and it is likely to be among those forming recently found pristine gorgonian habitats in Antarctic continental shelf ( Ambroso et al. 2017; Schejter et al. 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Recorded distribution of the top #12 most frequently recorded species during the present study. MPAs NI and NII are showed in the map.