Bimeria humilis Allman, 1877

Calder, Dale R., 2019, On a collection of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the southwest coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 4689 (1), pp. 1-141 : 16-17

Bimeria humilis Allman, 1877

Fig. 2a

Bimeria humilis Allman, 1877: 8 , pl. 5, figs. 3, 4.

Bimeria franciscana .— Joyce, 1961: 36, pl. 5, figs 3, 4 [not Bimeria franciscana Torrey, 1902 ].

Type locality. USA: Florida, Dry Tortugas, shallow water ( Allman 1877: 9) .

Material examined. Fort Myers Beach, stranded intertidally on detached octocoral, 16 February 2013, one colony, 4 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D. Calder, ROMIZ B4330.—Sanibel Island, beach at Lighthouse Point, on a detached and stranded colony of Thyroscyphus , 13 December 2017, one colony, 6 mm high, without gonophores, coll. D. Calder, ROMIZ B4331.

Remarks. Bimeria humilis Allman, 1877 from the southwest coast of Florida ( Allman 1877), and other locations in the warm western Atlantic ( Vervoort 1968), has frequently been considered a junior synonym of B. vestita Wright, 1859 from Scotland and elsewhere in northwest Europe ( Schuchert 2007). This hypothesis needs confirmation given the very different environmental conditions extant at these locations. Allman’s (1877) species is provisionally upheld as valid here.

Hydroids misidentified as Bimeria franciscana by Joyce (1961) from Seahorse Key, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, were based on specimens of Bimeria humilis Allman, 1877 .

Reported distribution. Gulf coast of Florida. Dry Tortugas, shallow water ( Allman 1877: 9).—Seahorse Key ( Joyce 1961: 36, misidentified as Bimeria franciscana ).

Elsewhere in western North Atlantic. Bermuda ( Congdon 1907: 467; Bennitt 1922: 243).— Bahamas: off Orange Key ( Fraser 1943: 86).— Trinidad: Maguaripe Bay (=Macqueripe Bay) ( Fraser 1943: 86).— USA: Texas, Palacios ( Deevey 1950: 335).— USA: Louisiana, Grand Isle ( Deevey 1950: 335).— Virgin Islands of the United States: St. Thomas ( Vervoort 1968: 7, as Garveia humilis ).— Panama: Colón ( Vervoort 1968: 7, as Garveia humilis ).— Venezuela: La Guaira + Puerto Cabello ( Vervoort 1968: 7, as Garveia humilis ).— USA: Texas, Galveston Bay area ( Defenbaugh & Hopkins 1973: 50).— USA: Gulf Stream E of Florida, 29°30’N, 78°29’W, on Sargassum polyceratium ( Rackley 1974: 20, as Garveia humilis ).— USA: Gulf Stream E of Florida, 30°30’N, 79°30’W, on Sargassum hystrix ( Rackley 1974: 20, as Garveia humilis ).— Colombia ( Wedler 1975: 340, as Garveia humilis ; Flórez González 1983: 123, as Garveia humilis ).— USA: South Carolina, inshore waters ( Calder & Hester 1978: 89, as Garveia humilis ).— Belize ( Spracklin 1982: 40, as Garveia humilis ).— USA: South Carolina and Georgia shelf ( Wenner et al. 1984: 20, 39).— Puerto Rico: La Parguera, 1–3 m ( Wedler & Larson 1986: 89, as Bimeria (? Garveia ) humilis ).— Bermuda: Flatts Inlet, 3 m, undersides of flat rocks + Green Bay Cave, on Eudendrium carneum + Harrington Sound at Flatts Bridge, on algae ( Calder 1988: 21, as Bimeria vestita ).— Panama: Bocas del Toro area, Swan’s Key, 09°27’12.2”N, 82°18’01.8”W, 1-4 m ( Calder & Kirkendale 2005: 479, as Bimeria vestita ).— USA: Florida, Fort Pierce ( Calder 2013: 12, as Bimeria vestita ).—French Lesser Antilles: Martinique, Case-Pilote, 14.637536, -61.139743, 12–15 m, on Hincksella formosa ( Galea 2013: 5, as Bimeria vestita ).—Caribbean Sea ( Wedler 2017b: 21, figs. 4, 5A–C, as Bimeria vestita ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. a, Bimeria humilis: colony with two hydranths, Fort Myers Beach, ROMIZ B4330. Scale equals 0.2 mm. b, Bougainvillia rugosa: part of colony with hydranth and medusa bud, Sanibel Island, ROMIZ B4333. Scale equals 0.2 mm. c, Bougainvillia rugosa: newly liberated medusa from same hydroid, ROMIZ B4333. Scale equals 0.1 mm. d, Bougainvillia rugosa: 3-day-old laboratory-raised medusa from same hydroid, ROMIZ B4333. Scale equals 0.1 mm. e, Calyptospadix cerulea: part of hydrocaulus with branches, pedicels, hydranths, and a female gonophore, Caloosahatchee River at Fort Myers, ROMIZ B4340. Scale equals 0.3 mm. f, Amphinema sp.: hydranth and pedicel, Captiva Island, ROMIZ B4338. Scale equals 0.2 mm. g, Amphinema sp.: hydranth and pedicel, Captiva Island, ROMIZ B4338. h, Eudendrium carneum: hydranth and pedicel, Sanibel Island, ROMIZ B4343. Scale equals 0.2 mm. i, Eudendrium carneum: part of female colony with encapsulated embryos, Sanibel Island, ROMIZ B4344. Scale equals 0.4 mm.