Clytia paulensis ( Vanhöffen, 1910 )

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 57

Clytia paulensis ( Vanhöffen, 1910)

Fig. 16c, d

Campanularia paulensis Vanhöffen, 1910: 298 , fig. 19a, b.

Type locality. Île Saint-Paul, crater basin, shallow water ( Vanhöffen 1910).

Voucher material. Off St. Lucie Inlet, 27°10.8’N, 80°00.8’W, 44 m, 03.ii.1977, Johnson-Sea-Link, diver lockout, JSL 2161, two colonies, up to 2 mm high, without gonophores, coll. F. Stanton, ROMIZ B1103 .

Remarks. Although Clytia paulensis ( Vanhöffen, 1910) is distinctive, presumably widespread, and now quite frequently reported (see synonymy list in Medel & Vervoort 2000), it was not described until the early twentieth century. Also surprising given its ubiquity is its remote type locality, a small volcanic island in the southern Indian Ocean. Fraser (1937a, 1944, 1946, 1948) did not mention it from the Americas, although Clytia longitheca ( Fraser 1914) from the west coast is considered a synonym (Schuchert 2012). It has now been reported from both Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the American continents ( Cairns et al. 2002; Oliveira et al. submitted).

Recent taxonomic accounts of C. paulensis include those of Medel & Vervoort (2000) and Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa (2002); the latter authors add notes on ecology of the species.

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. First record.

Western Atlantic. Chesapeake Bay ( Calder 1971) to Brazil (Oliveira et al. submitted), and from Challenger Bank near Bermuda ( Calder 2000), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Calder & Kirkendale 2005).

Elsewhere. Considered to be almost circumglobal in temperate and tropical waters ( Cornelius 1995b; Ramil et al. 1998; Medel & Vervoort 2000; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002).

Figures

FIGURE 16. a, Clytia noliformis: hydrotheca and distal part of pedicel, ROMIZ B3984, scale equals 0.10 mm. b, Clytia noliformis: gonotheca, ROMIZ B3984, scale equals 0.10 mm. c, Clytia paulensis: part of colony with hydrotheca and pedicel, ROMIZ B1103, scale equals 0.20 mm. d, Clytia paulensis: hydrotheca and distal part of pedicel, ROMIZ B1103, scale equals 0.10 mm. e, Obelia geniculata: part of hydrocaulus with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1119, scale equals 0.25 mm. f, Obelia hyalina: part of colony with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B3985, scale equals 0.25 mm. g, Obelia oxydentata: part of colony with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1112, scale equals 0.25 mm.