The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide
Author
Gravili, Cinzia
Author
Vito, Doris De
Author
Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di
Author
Martell, Luis
Author
Piraino, Stefano
Author
Boero, Ferdinando
text
Zootaxa
2015
3908
1
1
187
journal article
42365
10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1
6f1d1977-6b97-4789-828c-76ed250cf1ae
1175-5326
242729
D6AD2B49-170B-4D9C-84AA-DBE0FEEAD8BE
Pachycordyle napolitana
Weismann, 1883
Fig. 6
A–C
See
Schuchert (2004)
for a complete synonymy.
FIGURE 6.
Pachycordyle napolitana
:
A
, hydranth;
B
, mature male medusoid;
C
, mature female medusoid (B, C same scale bar) (redrawn and modified after Schuchert 2004 by A. Gennari). Scale bars: A, 0.4 mm; B, C, 0.3 mm.
Material examined.
HCUS-S 0 0 6 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).
Description
(based on our own observations;
Motz-Kossowska 1905
as
Cordylophora annulata
and
Perigonimus neapolitanus
;
Schuchert 2004
):
Hydroid.
Hydrorhiza reticular; colonies stolonal; hydrocaulus as pedicels usually less than
5 mm
long, unbranched or rarely branched once, slender basally and widening distally; perisarc moderately thin, wrinkled throughout and terminating at base of hydranth; hydranths club-shaped; hypostome dome-shaped to fusiform; with 12–24 filiform tentacles in 3 or 4 close whorls, tentacles of one whorl alternating with those of adjacent whorls, proximal tentacles often smaller than distal ones. Colours: hydranth body orange or reddish, hypostome whitish.
Eumedusoid:
1–3 per hydranth pedicel, on short wrinkled stalk completely invested with detritus-covered perisarc, arising at some distance below hydranth; mature gonophore medusoid with a distinct subumbrella, short collar projecting into subumbrella; radial canal absent; circular canal presumably absent; vestigial manubrium simple and large; below manubrium a bubble-like gastrodermal chamber; gonads encircling manubrium in a thick layer. Females with 100–
150
eggs. Immature male gonophores resembling sporosacs; mature male sporosacs also medusoid and identical to female ones.
Cnidome.
Desmonemes and microbasic euryteles.
Habitat
type
.
Colonies usually grow on gastropod shells, mostly on muddy bottoms; known to occur in depths from a few meters to about
40 m
(
Boero & Fresi 1986
;
Schuchert 2004
).
Substrate.
Mollusca (
Fusinus rostratus
,
Murex
spp.) and other organisms, including sea grasses.
Seasonality.
May, November–December in the Ligurian Sea (
Boero & Fresi 1986
); May and June in Salento waters (De Vito 2006; this study).
Reproductive period.
May in the Tyrrhenian Sea (
Stechow 1919
); June in Salento waters (De Vito 2006; this study).
Distribution.
Mediterranean (see
Medel & López-González 1996
; Bouillon
et al.
2004;
Schuchert 2004
;
Gravili
et al
. 2008a
),
Bermuda
(
Calder 1988
),
Puerto Rico
(
Wedler & Larson 1986 as
Clavopsella annulata
).
Records in Salento.
Rare at Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006;
Gravili
et al.
2008a
; this study).
Remarks.
Pachycordyle navis
, never recorded from the Mediterranean, is quite similar to the present species and occurs in brackish waters (
Schuchert 2004
). The difference of biotopes (marine vs brackish) suggests that the two nominal species are distinct.
References.
Hargitt (1904)
,
Motz-Kossowska (1905)
,
Lo Bianco (1909)
,
Mayer (1910)
,
Stechow (1912
,
1919
,
1923
), Rodríguez-Rosillo (1914),
Neppi (1921)
,
Picard (1951a
,
1958a
),
Riedl (1959)
,
Kramp (1961)
,
Chimenz Gusso & Taramelli Rivosecchi (1975)
,
Marinopoulos (1979)
,
Boero (1981a
,
b
),
Morri (1981a
,
b
), Morri (1985),
Piraino & Morri (1990)
,
Piraino
et al.
(1999)
,
Morri & Bianchi (1985)
,
Boero & Fresi (1986)
,
Piraino & Morri (1990)
,
Medel & López-González (1996)
, Bouillon
et al.
(2004),
Schuchert (2004)
, De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006),
Gravili
et al.
(2008a)
.