Halecium minor Fraser, 1935b

Halecium minor Fraser, 1935b: 108, pl. 2, figs. 6a–e [invalid junior primary homonym of Halecium halecinum var. minor Pictet, 1893].

Halecium permodicum Calder, 2017: 54 [replacement name for Halecium minor Fraser, 1935b, not Halecium halecinum var. minor Pictet, 1893].

Syntypes. BCPM 976-00485-001: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, 25 August 1933, on an anthozoan, labelled " type "; dry.

BCPM 976-00485-002: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, 25 August 1933; slide.

Lectotype, by present designation. RBCM 976-00485-003: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, 25 August 1933, one detached colony (largest and best trophosome of the species on the slide), in good condition, 5 mm high, without gonothecae; slide.

Paralectotypes. BCPM 976-00485-001: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, 25 August 1933, on an anthozoan, colony desiccated, labelled " type "; dry.

BCPM 976-00485-002: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, 25 August 1933, several colonies or colony fragments, in fair to good condition, one with a female gonotheca; slide.

Type locality. Japan: Sagami Bay, Hayama, 2–3 m, on an anthozoan (Fraser 1935b).

Current status. Invalid.

Remarks. Fraser (1935b) described Halecium minor from material sent to him by Dr. Hirotaro Hattori on behalf of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. He did not designate a name-bearing type of the species in that account. Two samples of the species exist in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM, one of them dry in a vial (BCPM 976- 00485-001) and the other on a microslide (BCPM 976-00485-002). Both are listed above as syntypes, with the first one containing a label marked “ type ”. The species is not represented in the Hirohito Hydroid Collection at the NMNS (Hirohito 1995: 16). The lectotype of H. minor designated here (RBCM 976-00485-003) is a specimen, in good condition, on a slide (BCPM 976-00485-002). It is distinguished in having the largest and best trophosome (5 mm high) of the species on the slide. Paralectotypes include other specimens of the same species on the slide, as well as the desiccated material labelled “ type ” (BCPM 976-00485-001). Notably, one tiny paralectotype colony or colony fragment near the lectotype on the slide bears a female gonotheca with two gonothecal hydranths. That specimen was otherwise too inadequate to be assigned name-bearing status. The hydranth of a tubulariid and bryozoan fragments are also present on the mount.

Halecium minor Fraser, 1935b is an invalid junior primary homonym of Halecium halecinum var. minor Pictet, 1893, currently recognized at the rank of species, as H. minor Pictet, 1893 . The binomen of Fraser has been replaced by Halecium permodicum Calder, 2017 .