Salacia desmoides ( Torrey, 1902 )

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 28

Salacia desmoides ( Torrey, 1902)

Fig. 8g

Sertularia desmoidis Torrey, 1902: 65 , pl. 8, figs. 70–72 [the specific name desmoidis deemed to be an incorrect original spelling (ICZN Art. 33.2.3.1) and emended by Nutting (1904) to desmoides ].

Type locality. USA: southern California (San Diego, San Clemente Island, San Pedro ) ( Torrey 1902) .

Voucher material. Off St. Lucie Inlet, 27°11.8’N, 79°57.3’W, 87 m, 04.x.1986, Johnson-Sea-Link, J028/JSL 2132, six colony fragments, up to 2.5 cm high, without gonothecae, coll. R. Roesch, ROMIZ B3967 .

Remarks. Originally described from southern California, Salacia desmoides ( Torrey, 1902) has been reported from tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, including both eastern and western Atlantic (e.g., Grohmann et al. 2003; Vervoort 2006). Although specimens from Florida examined here indeed correspond morphologically with the species, and the name S. desmoides is maintained for them here, on biogeographic grounds their identity needs verification. As for European populations, molecular studies by Moura et al. (2011) indicate a close genetic relationship amongst hydroids assigned to the species from Portugal, the Azores, and the Mediterranean Sea (Banyuls-sur-Mer, France). Particularly needed now, however, are analyses of specimens from the type locality of southern California (and from the western Atlantic).

In first describing this species, Torrey (1902) spelled the specific name as desmoidis in both text and figure captions. While incorrectly formed, there is no evidence of an inadvertent error, such as a lapsus calami or a printer’s or copyist’s error, having been made (ICZN Art. 32.5.1). The subsequent spelling of the name as desmoides , first introduced by Nutting (1904), might thus appear under the code to be an unjustified emendation. However, that spelling, in prevailing usage (see recent synonymy in Vervoort & Watson 2003) and even adopted by Torrey (1904), is deemed here to be a justified emendation (ICZN Art. 33.2.3.1).

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. First record.

Western Atlantic. Continental shelf of South Carolina and Georgia ( Wenner et al. 1984) to Brazil ( Grohmann et al. 2003).

Elsewhere. Tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans ( Medel & Vervoort 1998).

Figures

FIGURE 8. a, Diphasia digitalis: part of a hydrocladium with hydrothecal pairs, ROMIZ B3964, scale equals 0.25 mm. b, Dynamena crisioides: part of hydrocaulus with basal part of a hydrocladium and hydrothecae, ROMIZ B3965, scale equals 0.25 mm. c, Dynamena dalmasi: part of hydrocaulus with two hydrothecal pairs, ROMIZ B1081, scale equals 0.25 mm. d, Dynamena disticha: part of hydrocaulus with two hydrothecal pairs, ROMIZ B3966, scale equals 0.20 mm. e, Pasya quadridentata: part of hydrocaulus with three hydrothecal pairs, ROMIZ B1085, scale equals 0.25 mm. f, Pasya quadridentata: gonotheca, ROMIZ B1085, scale equals 0.25 mm. g, Salacia desmoides: part of hydrocaulus with two hydrothecal pairs, ROMIZ B3967, scale equals 0.25 mm. h, Sertularella areyi: part of hydrocaulus with two hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1135, scale equals 0.5 mm. i, Sertularella conica: part of hydrocaulus with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1087, scale equals 0.25 mm.