Halecium banzare Watson 2008
- Dataset
- Hydroids of the BANZARE expeditions, 1929 – 1931: the family Haleciidae (Hydrozoa, Leptothecata) from the Australian Antarctic Territory
- Rank
- SPECIES
- Published in
- Watson, Jeanette E. (2008): Hydroids of the BANZARE expeditions, 1929 – 1931: the family Haleciidae (Hydrozoa, Leptothecata) from the Australian Antarctic Territory. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65: 165-178, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2008.65.9, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2008.65.9
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Cnidaria
- class
- Hydrozoa
- order
- Leptothecata
- family
- Haleciidae
- genus
- Halecium
- species
- Halecium banzare
description
Gonothecae of both sexes inverted conical, compressed, borne prolifically on younger branches, inserted without distinct pedicel in wall of hydrophore or lower down on internode; male gonotheca with a minute apical peak (visible only in side view), female similar in shape to male, gonophore containing large scattered ova; gonophores of both sexes with an apical pad of tissue. No visible aperture in either sex.
diagnosis
Diagnosis. Colonies originally 80 - 140 mm high, the tallest stem arising from a tufted hydrorhiza of thin, tangled, shining stolons. Stem thick, brittle, branched, heavily fascicled; polysiphonic tubes parallel, running almost to top of stem, along primary branches and along some secondary branches. Primary branches long, held out stiffly more or less in plane almost perpendicular to stem, succeeding branches in three or four orders; new branches given off from a hydrophore or from within a hydrotheca, typically long, monosiphonic, thin and flaccid with one to three deep basal annulations. Monosiphonic branch internodes moderately long, cylindrical, walls smooth, widening distally to hydrophore, nodes deeply indented, oblique to transverse, typically one or two constrictions above and below node. Hydrophores alternate, distal on internode and directed outwards, projecting above level of node, walls cylindrical, smooth, abcauline wall often faintly bulging, adcauline wall slightly concave, often an internal thickening in perisarc about two thirds distance up wall, joining abcauline wall with a faint diagonal line in perisarc. Hydrotheca shallow, expanding a little from diaphragm to margin; rim circular, weakly everted. Diaphragm distinct, transverse, a row of desmocytes just above. Secondary hydrophores common, arising from diaphragm of hydrotheca, a transverse constriction in perisarc of secondary hydrophore just above rim ofhydrotheca.
discussion
Remarks. Although now much fragmented, the colonies were probably tall and sparsely branched, arising from a thick, mattedhydrorhiza. Internalthickeningof theperisarcispresent in many hydrophores. The ova are scattered, not clustered around the spadix of the gonophore. Both sexes appear to be near maturity but as none of the gonothecae show any sign of anapertureitseemslikelythatreproductivematerial isreleased by rupture of the very thin perisarc.
etymology
Etymology. The species name commemorates the BANZARE expedition.
materials_examined
Holotype NMV F 147450, Station 41, three microslides displaying branch fragments; also preserved male colony. Paratypes NMV F 147451, Station 34, one microslide displaying one branch. NMV F 147452, Station 107, one microslide displaying small branch fragment; preserved fragmented female stem or branch 70 mm long. NMV F 147479, Station 107, one microslide displaying small branch fragment. NMV F 147455, Station 107, two microslides displaying branch fragments; a small fragmented preserved colony. NMV F 147479, one microslide displaying small branch fragment.
Name
- Homonyms
- Halecium banzare Watson 2008