Sertularella porcupine, Gil & Ramil & Agís, 2020

Gil, Marta, Ramil, Fran & Agís, José Ansín, 2020, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds, Zootaxa 4878 (3), pp. 412-466 : 430-431

Sertularella porcupine nom. nov.

( Fig. 3E )

Sertularella gayi var. robusta Allman, 1873: 186 ; Allman, 1874: 474, pl. LXVI, figs 3, 3A; Billard, 1906b: 185, fig. 9C. Sertularella gayi robusta: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 223–225 , figs. 60B, 62A–C; Medel & Vervoort, 1998: 45–46, fig. 12; Calder

& Vervoort, 1998: 39–41, fig. 19A–B.

Material examined. MAURIT-0911, stn MUDR01 , 16º08´24”N, 16º57´12”W, 488 m, 5-XII-2009: one hydrothecae growing on a bryozoan, no gonothecae .

Etymology. The specific name porcupine refers the 1869 Expedition of the vessel H.M.S. “Porcupine”, in which the species was collected for the first time. Noun in apposition.

Biology. This species has been found growing on coral fragments and gorgonians ( Medel & Vervoort 1998) and on bryozoans, scleractinians and artificial substrata ( Gil & Ramil 2017a). Fertile material has been found in May, June and November ( Medel & Vervoort 1998).

In our material, this species was epibiont on a bryozoan.

Distribution. Sertularella porcupine nom. nov. is an East Atlantic species reported from the Shetland Islands to Madeira and the Atlantic coast of Morocco ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as Sertularella gayi robusta Allman, 1873 ). In West Africa, it was collected from Morocco ( Billard 1906b, as S. gayi var. elongata and S. gayi var. robusta ; Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as S. gayi robusta ), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a, as S. gayi robusta ) and Cape Verde region ( Medel & Vervoort 2000, as S. gayi robusta ). Its bathymetric distribution ranges from 120 to 1003 m ( Gil & Ramil 2017a; Calder & Vervoort 1998, both as S. gayi robusta ).

Our material was collected from a depth of 488 m.

Remarks. The differences between S. gayi and Sertularella porcupine nom. nov. (= S. gayi robusta ) were established by Ramil & Vervoort (1992), and they deal with the ramification pattern of the colonies, size of the hydrothecae and the morphology of gonothecal aperture.

In Sertularella porcupine nom. nov. the ramification of the colony is more irregular with branches disposed all around of axis, the hydrothecae are bigger and the gonothecal aperture provided with three low cups versus two lips ins S. gayi .

Research on the DNA barcode gene 16S mRNA within Sertulariidae conducted by Moura et al. (2011) suggested that S. gayi and S. porcupine nom. nov. (= S. gayi robusta ) are different species, but the authors used the name ‘ Sertularella robusta ’ for the material collected from the deep waters of the Gulf of Cádiz; nevertheless, the binomen Sertularella robusta cannot be applied to Allman’s variety because it is an invalid junior homonym of Sertularella robusta Coughtrey, 1879 , a different species mainly distributed in the Indo-Pacific region ( Vervoort & Watson 2003). Another name applied to this species was Sertularella gayi var. elongata Billard, 1906b , included by Ramil & Vervoort (1992) in its synonym. The binomen Sertularella elongata is also an invalid junior homonym of Sertularella elongata Jäderholm, 1904 [= Antarctoscyphus elongatus (Jäderholm, 1904) ]. In consequence, we propose Sertularella porcupine as a replacement name for this species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A, Bedotella armata (Pictet & Bedot, 1900) (stn MUDR01), part of colony with two renovated hydrothecae and nematothecae. B–D, Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821) (stn GeoB 14908–1): B, part of lateral branch. C–D, gonothecae, lateral view. E, Sertularella porcupine nom. nov. (stn MUDR01), hydrocladium with hydrothecae and gonotheca. F, Halopteris catharina (Johnston, 1833) (stn GeoB 14796–1), part of hydrocladium. Scales: a–e, 1 mm; f, 0.5 mm.