Names of hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) established by Charles McLean Fraser (1872 - 1946), excluding those from Allan Hancock Expeditions
Author
Calder, Dale R.
Author
Choong, Henry H. C.
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-10-02
4487
1
1
83
journal article
29136
10.11646/zootaxa.4487.1.1
939f52d6-d58b-4a22-8aec-dd5c6a591067
1175-5326
1456161
524B23B9-8EAA-4BD6-8937-A1B8F1C057B9
Family
Acaulidae
Fraser, 1924b
Αcaulidae
Fraser, 1924b
: 173.
Current status.
Valid.
Remarks.
Stimpson (1853)
described and illustrated
Acaulis primarius
, a remarkable new genus and species of solitary hydroid from Grand Manan Island,
New Brunswick
, Atlantic
Canada
. His polyp was unusual in having a very short, spike-shaped hydrocaulus beneath a large hydranth having scattered capitate tentacles and an irregular whorl of filiform tentacles at the base. Some early authors (e.g., Allman 1872) believed Stimpson’s hydroid constituted a hydranth that had detached from its stalk. Even though
G.O. Sars (1874)
subsequently described and accurately illustrated
A. primarius
from Lofoten,
Norway
, uncertainty persisted over the morphological structure of the species (e.g.,
Fewkes 1890
;
Dendy 1902
;
Fraser 1918c
).
Fraser (1924b)
confirmed the morphology of its hydrocaulus, and established the family
Acaulidae
to accommodate the species.
The taxonomy of
A. primarius
has recently been reviewed by
Schuchert (2006)
. As noted therein, two species were mistakenly included under that binomen by
Stimpson (1853)
. However, Schuchert concluded that Allman (1872), in effect, had designated a
lectotype
(ICZN 74.5) by fixing its identity in conformity with that matching the longstanding concept of the species. That concept accords with the only illustration of
A. primarius
provided by
Stimpson (1853, pl. 1, fig. 4)
.
Type
material of the species exists at the MCZ (Invertebrate Zoology Coel-162).