Corynidae Johnston, 1836

Calder, Dale R., 2010, Some anthoathecate hydroids and limnopolyps (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Hawaiian archipelago 2590, Zootaxa 2590 (1), pp. 1-91 : 50

Family Corynidae Johnston, 1836

Corynidae Johnston, 1836: 107 .

Diagnosis. Capitate hydroids with stolonal or erect colonies, arising from creeping hydrorhiza or encrusting base; erect colonies unbranched or irregularly branched. Perisarc covering hydrorhiza, hydrocaulus, and hydrocladia. Hydranths frequently clavate but varied in shape, with an oral whorl of capitate tentacles, additional capitate tentacles often present below this whorl, these either scattered or in verticils; with or without an aboral whorl of reduced filiform sensory tentacles; hypostome conical to dome-shaped, with or without button-like aggregation of mucous gland cells. Colonies polymorphic in Nannocoryne Bouillon & Grohmann, 1994 , with gametes arising in walls of gonozooids.

Gonophores fixed sporosacs, eumedusoids, or medusae. Medusae, when present, with characters of the order; umbrella bell-shaped, lacking exumbrellar nematocyst tracks; manubrium tubular, varying from short to long, sometimes extending beyond velar opening; radial canals four; marginal tentacles four, capitate; ocelli present. Gonads in one or more rings on manubrium.

Remarks. A revision of the family Corynidae Johnston, 1836 was undertaken by Schuchert (2001b). Until recently, nine genera ( Coryne Gaertner, 1774 , Sarsia Lesson, 1843 , Dipurena McCrady, 1859 , Dicodonium Haeckel, 1879 , Sarsiella Hartlaub, 1907 , Dicyclocoryne Annandale, 1915 , Bicorona Millard, 1966 , Cladosarsia Bouillon, 1978a , and Nannocoryne Bouillon & Grohmann, 1994 ) and about 85 species were recognized in the family ( Schuchert, 2009).

However, major revision of the family and its genera now appears warranted based on the work of Nawrocki et al. (2010). Most notably, their analysis indicated that the genus Polyorchis A. Agassiz , in L. Agassiz, 1862 should be included in the group. To accommodate results from that study, a step towards a new classification was undertaken by Schuchert (2010), who included the following genera besides Polyorchis in the family: Coryne , Sarsia , and Scrippsia Torrey, 1909 , the reintroduced genera Stauridiosarsia Mayer, 1910a and Codonium Haeckel, 1879 , and an extensively revised Slabberia Forbes, 1846 , replacing its junior objective synonym Dipurena . Mayer (1910b: 719) had adopted the name Dipurena in place of Slabberia Forbes, 1846 because the latter was predated by Slabberia Oken, 1815 . However, Schuchert correctly noted that Oken’s (1815) work has been rejected for nomenclatural purposes by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (Opinion 417), removing the threat to Slabberia Forbes, 1846 , a name in use until Mayer’s (1910b) replacement of it (see Hartlaub 1907: 62–66; Mayer 1910a: 73–79).

Further changes to the classification of Corynidae can be expected in the near future. Meanwhile, the diagnosis given above reflects the traditional concept of the family.