Halopteris polymorpha ( Billard, 1913 )

Agís, José Ansín, Vervoort, Willem & Ramil, Fran, 2009, Hydroids of the family Halopterididae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) collected in the western Pacific by various French expeditions, Zoosystema 31 (1), pp. 33-61 : 53

Halopteris polymorpha ( Billard, 1913)

Plumularia polymorpha Billard, 1913: 24 , figs 14A-C, 15.

Halopteris polymorpha – Vervoort 1966: 132, fig.35a-d. — Millard & Bouillon 1973: 83, fig. 10F-J. — Millard 1975: 354, fig. 112G-L. — Hirohito 1983: 62, fig. 31. — Ryland & Gibbons 1991: 530, fig. 4A-C. — Schuchert 1997: 64, figs 20a-f, 21a-h, 22a-h, 23a-f. — Ansín Agís et al. 2001: 167, fig. 70a-d.

Plumularia nuttingi Billard, 1911: 66 , fig. 8.

Plumularia buski – Billard 1913: 21, text-fig. 11, pl. 1, fig. 15. — Redier 1966: 90, pl. 2, figs 1-3, pl. 3, fig. 1 [not Plumularia buskii Bale, 1884 = Halopteris buskii ( Bale, 1884) ].

Halopteris buskii – Vervoort & Vasseur 1977: 72, figs 30c, 31a-d. — Ryland & Gibbons 1991: 527, fig. 2A-C.

Halopteris buskii p.p. – Rees & Vervoort 1987: 119, fig. 25a, b, tab. 22 (material from John Murray Expedition stn 112).

Halopteris polymorpha var. sibogae Billard, 1913: 25 , fig. 16. — Millard & Bouillon 1973: 84, fig. 10K.

Thecocaulus polymorphus var. sibogae – Bedot 1921: 9.

Antennella secundaria – Vervoort 1967: 42, fig. 12a-e [not Antennella secundaria ( Gmelin, 1791) ].

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Coral Sea. CHALCAL 1, stn P4, 19°07.37’S, 158°33.37’E, 50 m, 18.VII.1984, 1 damaged colony on sponge, no gonothecae ( MNHN).

DISTRIBUTION. — Halopteris polymorpha is mainly known from the Indo-Pacific; in the Atlantic it is only known from the Brazilian coast ( Schuchert 1997) and the Cape Verde region ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001).

The material was obtained from a single locality in the Coral Sea at 50 m depth.

REMARKS

The material examined was much damaged (the colony was dried out), but it was identified as Halopteris polymorpha because in certain parts of the colony it has been possible to observe the characteristics of this species: shape of hydrotheca, number of nematothecae and the presence of two axillar nematotheca behind the hydrotheca.