Hydroides tambalagamensis Pillai, 1961

(Fig. 9)

Hydroides tambalagamensis Pillai, 1961: 36 –38, fig. 12 [Tambalagam Lake, Sri Lanka].

Hydroides tambalagamensis . — Straughan 1967b: 33, fig. 3g [Heron Island, Qld; diagnosis]; Imajima 1976a: 231 –132 [diagnosis, Japan]; Imajima 1976b: 123 –126, fig. 2a–j [Tanega-Shima, Japan]; Imajima 1979: 167 [Kii Peninsula, Japan]; Imajima & ten Hove 1984: 49 [Majuro, Marshall Islands, Lizard Island, Qld; synonymy]; ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 54 [name only]; Sun et al. 2012a: 21 [Hong Kong, description]; Sun et al. 2015: 82 –85, fig. 27 [WA, NT, Qld, Australia]. Hydroides spiculitubus Pillai, 2009: 125 –128 [Kimberley, WA].

Hydroides spiculitubus . — Bailey-Brock et al. 2012: 969, 973 [Marshall Islands].

Material examined. AM W.38609, North Point, 14°40'S, 145°28'E, 20 m, coll. P. Hutchings, 9 Mar 1986; AM W.45050, MI QLD 2406 (5); AM W.45058, MI QLD 2406; AM W.45064, MI QLD 2413; AM W.45417, MI QLD 2446 (2); AM W.45418, MI QLD 2446; AM W.46430, Hicks Reef Outer Barrier, Fore Reef, 14°28'48"S, 145°29'12"E, coral rubble, 2–18 m, coll. C. Watson & K. Mills, 14 Feb 2009; AM W.46431, Day Reef, Fore Reef, 14°28'18"S, 145°31'48"E, coral rubble, 10 m, coll. M. Blazewicz-Paskowycz, 13 Feb 2009; SAM E3598 (2), stn.G232, between First Beach and Osprey Island, 1 m, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 26 Oct 2005.

Diagnosis. Verticil with 7–8 sub-equal spines (no larger dorsal spine). Each verticil spine curved outwards and ending in pointed tip, bearing a pair of outwardly curved lateral spinules at about half of its length, an inwardly curved radial spinule at the same level or slightly above, and a small basal radial spinule. Funnel with 24–39 sharply pointed dark-brown chitinized radii, base of funnel not chitinized. Grooves separating radii extending 1/3 of funnel length (Fig. 9).

Remarks. Pillai (2009) described specimens with H. tambalagamensis - type operculum and a detachable inner tube as Hydroides spiculituba n. sp. However, Sun et al. (2015) synonymized H. spiculituba with H. tambalagamensis based on the identical 18S sequences of specimens with and without inner tubes. Here we follow the synonymy of Sun et al. (2015).

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific.