Coryne pusilla Gaertner, 1774

Gravili, Cinzia, Vito, Doris De, Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di, Martell, Luis, Piraino, Stefano & Boero, Ferdinando, 2015, The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide, Zootaxa 3908 (1), pp. 1-187 : 53-54

Coryne pusilla Gaertner, 1774

Fig. 36

See Schuchert (2001b) for a complete synonymy.

Material examined. HCUS-S 0 41 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula). Description (based on our own observations; Brinckmann-Voss 1970; Schuchert 2001b, 2010, 2012):

Hydroid. Hydrorhiza stolonal; colonies erect, up to 3 cm high, rather broad and bushy; hydrocaulus branching several times, perisarc annulated throughout, annulations of branches irregular and broad; hydranth fusiform, sometimes covered at base by a perisarcal funnel-like dilatation; hypostome conical; with about 18–28 capitate tentacles, arranged in an oral whorl of 4–5 tentacles and scattered lower tentacles. Gonophores as fixed sporosacs, spherical to egg-shaped, borne in upper axils of the tentacles along lower 1/2 to 2/3 of hydranth, 1–3 per tentacle, without canal system, spadix present, mature female sporosacs with 15– 25 eggs. Colour: perisarc brown, hydranth red brown with white dots, mature male and female sporosacs white.

Cnidome. Stenoteles.

Habitat type. Intertidal species, few metres depth ( Brinckmann-Voss 1970; Boero & Fresi 1986; Schuchert 2001b).

Substrate. Algae, Posidonia , hydroids and barnacles, also on man-made floating objects.

Seasonality. In the western Mediterranean Sea ( Stechow 1919; Boero & Fresi 1986; Llobet et al. 1991), Coryne pusilla occurs from January to December ( Faucci & Boero 2000; this study).

Reproductive period. In the Ligurian Sea, fertile colonies occur in March and August ( Boero & Fresi 1986).

Distribution. Northeastern Atlantic; doubtful records from Indian Ocean and Pacific, Mediterranean ( Brinckmann-Voss 1970; Medel & López-González 1996; Schuchert 2001b; Bouillon et al. 2004; Gravili et al. 2008a; Soto Ãngel & Peña Cantero 2013).

Records in Salento. Rare at: La Strea, Porto Cesareo ( Presicce 1991; Faucci & Boero 2000; this study); S.ta Caterina, Montagna Spaccata ( Presicce 1991); Il Chiapparo (this study); Otranto ( De Vito 2002; Gravili 2006; Gravili et al. 2008a; this study).

Remarks. In the Mediterranean Sea no unambiguous identifications of the species C. pusilla are known and, probably, the Mediterranean records of C. pusilla are either referable to C. muscoides or C. pintneri lacking filiform tentacles (for more details see Schuchert, 2005a, 2010).

References. Lo Bianco (1909), Stechow (1919), Leloup (1934), Yamada (1965), Brinckmann-Voss (1970), Boero (1981a, b, c), Morri & Bianchi (1982), Morri (1985), Boero & Fresi (1986), Gili (1986), García-Rubies (1987, 1992), Llobet i Nadal (1987), Llobet et al. (1991), Riedl (1991), Altuna (1994), Medel & López-González (1996), Schuchert (1996, 2001b, 2010, 2012), Faucci & Boero (2000), De Vito (2002), Bouillon et al. (2004), Gravili (2006), Gravili et al. (2008a).

Figures

FIGURE 36. Coryne pusilla: extended hydranth with sporosacs (redrawn and modified after Schuchert 2001 b by C. G. Di Camillo). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.