Halecium erratum Galea, Försterra, Häussermann & Schories, sp. nov.

(Table 3)

Halecium fraseri ― Leloup, 1974: 11, Fig. 8.―Galea et al., 2007: 57, Fig. 2 C–K.

not Halecium fraseri Ralph, 1958: 338 (= new name for H. flexile ― Fraser, 1914: 165, pl. 20 Fig. 71; 1937: 104, pl. 21 Fig. 111; 1944: 192, pl. 35 Fig. 169; 1946: 73, 264; 1948: 222; not H. flexile Allman, 1888).

Material examined. HF4, Fjord Piti Palena, Raul Marin, lat. -43.77517, -72.87843, 09.iii.2007, 15– 20 m, sample 1461: a female colony (holotype: MHNG-INVE-54634); sample 1465: a male colony (paratype: MHNG-INVE- 86144). Caleta La Arena, Caleta Yerbas Buenas, lat. -41.67263, long. -72.65650, 11.vii.2010, 30 m, sample 04: a 15 cm high, female colony (MHNG-INVE-79659); 12.vii.2010, 40– 47 m, sample 06: two sterile colonies, 18 and 20 cm high, respectively (MHNG-INVE-79658); 07.x.2011, 40 m, sample 01: a 14 cm high, sterile colony (MHNG-INVE-86258).

Remarks. Since the first specimens were described by some of us (Galea et al. 2007) under the specific name H. fraseri Ralph, 1958, new material was gathered and additional literature sources became available to us. Ralph (1958) assigned the new name H. fraseri to a hydroid apparently misidentified as H. flexile in a series of papers by Fraser (1914, 1937, 1944, 1946, 1948), its area of occurrence being mainly the Pacific coast of North America (Fraser 1937, 1948), with an additional record from a locality in the northwestern Atlantic (Fraser 1944).

From the descriptions available for the North American species, it is realized that it exhibits some features that are not met with in our Chilean material, and these are listed in Table 3. Consequently, our material is considered as belonging to an undescribed species, and the new name H. erratum is proposed for it.

Etymology. The specific name borrows the Latin noun erratum, with reference to an earlier, erroneous assignment of this species to another taxon.

Distribution in Chile. Fjord Piti Palena (Galea et al. 2007) and South of Puerto Montt (present record).

World records. Not known from elsewhere.