Sertularella

Abstract: Moura, C. J., Cunha, M. R., Porteiro, F. M. & Rogers, A. D. (2011). The use of the DNA barcode gene 16S mRNA for the clarification of taxonomic problems within the family Sertulariidae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa). —Zoologica Scripta, 40, 520–537. The Sertulariidae are the most speciose family of the Hydrozoa, and their systematics are problematic. Here, 77 new 16S mtDNA sequence ‘barcodes’ of Atlantic and Mediterranean sertulariids were subject to phylogenetic analyses along with another 29 already deposited in Genbank. Amongst the 12 nominal genera and around 40 putative species analysed, several taxonomic inconsistencies and corroborations were highlighted by the genetic data. Patterns of morphological characters between the specimens analysed genetically were extremely congruent with molecular estimates. The genera Sertularia, Dynamena and Symplectoscyphus were found to be polyphyletic, and the genus Sertularella paraphyletic. The validity of Sertularella robusta at a species level was confirmed, along with the exclusion of Sertularelloides cylindritheca from the genus Sertularella. Potential cryptic species were detected within Sertularella fusiformis, Sertularella mediterranea, Sertularella ellisii, Sertularia distans, Dynamena disticha, Thuiaria articulata and Diphasia margareta. Conversely, probable cases of synonomy were revealed for the species pairs: Sertularia cupressina and Sertularia argentea, Amphisbetia minima and Amphisbetia operculata, and Thuiaria thuja and T. articulata. 16S haplotype data also revealed probable phylogeographic structure across localities of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean. As an alternative ‘DNA barcode’, the 16S gene has the great advantage of being easily amplified and sequenced across hydrozoan taxa. Furthermore, the marked increase in deposited 16S sequences in public databases facilitates the identification of hydrozoan samples to the level of family, genus, and especially species or even populations, in a manner that is coherent with phenotypic and geographic/environmental differences.

Abstract: Forty-three species of sertulariid hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Sertulariidae), collected from the tropical western Pacific (Taiwan, Philippines, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands) during various expeditions of the French Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos program, are discussed. Of these, nine are new to science: Gonaxia nova sp. nov., G. plumularioides sp. nov., Sertularella folliformis sp. nov., Se. plicata sp. nov., Se. pseudocatena sp. nov., Se. splendida sp. nov., Se. tronconica sp. nov., Se. tubulosa sp. nov., and Symplectoscyphus paucicatillus sp. nov. The subspecies Symplectoscyphus johnstoni (Gray, 1843) tropicus Vervoort, 1993 is raised to species but, in order to avoid the secondary homonymy with Sy. tropicus (Hartlaub, 1901), the replacement name, Sy. fasciculatus nom. nov., is introduced. The male and female gonothecae of Diphasia cristata Billard, 1920, the male gonothecae of Gonaxia elegans Vervoort, 1993, as well as the female gonothecae of Salacia macer Vervoort & Watson, 2003, are described for the first time. Additional notes on the morphology of several other species are provided. All taxa are illustrated, in most cases using figures drawn at the same scale, so as to highlight the differences between related species.

Abstract: The hydroid fauna of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, is known largely from reports of collections made between 1932 and 1938 during several Allan Hancock Pacific Expeditions. Of some 100 nominal species (excluding Stylasteridae) reported from the archipelago overall, including species obtained during other expeditions, 81 are recognized as valid. An additional 15 species are added here, 14 of them based on collections undertaken between 1992 and 2000. Leptothecates account for 66 of the 96 species, while anthoathecates comprise the remaining 30. One previously undescribed leptothecate, Halopteris violae, sp. nov., is characterized and compared with H. tenella (Verrill, 1874) and H. minuta (Trebilcock, 1928), species it closely resembles. Gonothecae of Sertularella costata Leloup, 1940 are described for the first time. Plumularia galapagensis, nom. nov., is proposed as a replacement name for the invalid junior primary homonym Plumularia tenuissima Fraser, 1938b (not Plumularia tenuissima Totton, 1930). Und...

Abstract: The collection of hydropolyps of the Lund University Chile Expedition 1948–1949 is treatec taxonomically. 49 species are recorded. One of these, Sertularella microtheca, is new to science, and a further 18 are new to the Chilean fauna. A new genus, Parathuiaria, is erected for Thuiaria polycarpa and the South-African T. doliolum, sertularids which have paired hydrothecae with gonothecae attached to their base.