Hebellopsis scandens ( Bale, 1888 )

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 20

Hebellopsis scandens ( Bale, 1888)

Fig. 5e

Lafoea scandens Bale, 1888: 758 , pl. 13, figs. 16–19.

Type locality. Australia: Port Stephens and Port Jackson ( Bale 1888) .

Voucher material. Bethel Shoal off Vero Beach, 27°42.6’N, 80°06.8’W, 24 m, on Pasya quadridentata , 18.ii.1976, Johnson-Sea-Link, JSL 328, diver lockout, four colony fragments, without gonothecae, coll. S. Nelson, ROMIZ B1091 .

Remarks. This widespread species, common as an epizoite on other hydroids, has been reported along the east coast of the United States as Hebella calcarata A. Agassiz, 1865 by authors including Fraser (1944). Confusion over that binomen, now included in the synonymy of Laodicea undulata ( Forbes & Goodsir, 1853) , has been reviewed earlier ( Calder 1991a). It is especially frequent in the region south of Cape Hatteras ( Fraser 1912b, as H. calcarata ; Calder & Hester 1978, as Hebella scandens ; Wenner et al. 1983, 1984, as H. scandens ). Records of this species in boreal waters north of Cape Cod, listed in Fraser (1944) are considered doubtful.

The medusa stage of this species was raised in the laboratory from the hydroid and described by Altuna Prados (1996).

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. First record.

Western Atlantic. New England ( Fraser 1944, as Hebella calcarata A. Agassiz, 1865 ) to Argentina (Oliveira et al. submitted, as H. scandens ), including Bermuda ( Calder 1991a), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Vervoort 1968, as H. scandens var. contorta ).

Elsewhere. Circumglobal in tropical, subtropical and temperate waters ( Vervoort & Watson 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 5. a, Hebella venusta: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1097, scale equals 0.20 mm. b, Hebella sp.: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1132, scale equals 0.25 mm. c, Hebellopsis communis: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1100, scale equals 0.10 mm. d, Hebellopsis gigas: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1082, scale equals 0.25 mm. e, Hebellopsis scandens: pedicel and hydrotheca, ROMIZ B1091, scale equals 0.10 mm. f, Cryptolaria pectinata: distal part of a hydrocladium, ROMIZ B1120, scale equals 0.25 mm.