Gyropora africana Boschma, 1960

Cairns, Stephen D. & Zibrowius, Helmut, 2013, Stylasteridae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Filifera) from South Africa, Zootaxa 3691 (1), pp. 1-57 : 20

Gyropora africana Boschma, 1960

Fig. 1 H, 23

Gyropora africana Boschma, 1960a: 423 –433, pl. 1, figs. 1–9, text-figs. 1a–d; 1966b: 112 (listed).—Vervoort & Zibrowius, 1981: 13, 26–27 (lectotype designation).—Cairns, 1983b: 466, figs. 13A–H, 24J, 25L (redescription).—Cairns & Macintyre, 1992: 100–101 (mineralogy).

Types and Type Locality. A lectotype was designated from the syntype series of two specimens by Vervoort & Zibrowius (1981) UCTES TRA151, which is now cut in two pieces and deposited at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (Coel. 13749). The smaller paralectotype cannot be found. Type Locality: 34°51’S, 19°35’E (off Cape Agulhas, South Africa), 22 m.

Material Examined. Lectotype; specimen from BM 1977.8.5.1, Cape of Good Hope (Cairns 1983b); Valdivia 95, 6 branches, ZMB; PF 2675, 1, SAM H1235.

Remarks. This species is known from only four locations, two of them reported herein, all from shallow water off South Africa. The Valdivia specimen, collected 62 years before the original description, was only a km from the type locality. The species was adequately described and figured by Boschma (1960a) and Cairns (1983b), and thus no additional SEM illustrations are included. Being a monotypic genus, the generic diagnosis is sufficient for its identification.

Distribution. As for the genus (Fig. 23).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Colonies of various species: A – B, Lepidopora diffusa, PF 13654. C, Inferiolabiata africana, holotype. D, Inferiolabiata lowei, PF 907. E, Inferiolabiata spinosa, Anton Bruun 420 A. F, Errina capensis, syntype, Manchester Museum. G, Errina capensis, MN XX 129, female. H, Gyropora africana, BM 1977.8. 5.1. I, Stylaster nobilis, PF 7014, 3 distal branches. J, Stylaster subviolaceus, PF 15675.