Acryptolaria novaecaledoniae Peña Cantero & Vervoort 2010, n. sp.
Creators: name: Peña Cantero, Álvaro L.
name: Vervoort, Willem
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Hydrozoa
Leptothecata
Lafoeidae
Acryptolaria
Acryptolaria novaecaledoniae

description: Acryptolaria novaecaledoniae n. sp.
(Figs 21; 30; 32E; Table 22)
TYPE MATERIAL. — Loyalty Islands. MUSORSTOM 6, stn DW 422, 20°26.20’S, 166°40.31’E, 257 m, 16.II.1989, many stems up to 55 mm high, on coral. Of this lot 1 48 mm high colony, holotype (MNHN-Hy.2009-0169); 1 50 mm high stem, paratype (MNCN 2.03 /426); the remaining colony and fragments, paratype (RMNH-Coel. no. 31522).
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Loyalty Islands. MUSORSTOM 6, stn DW 398, 20°47.19’S, 167°05.65’E, 370 m, 13.II.1989, a few stem fragments up to 60 mm long (MNHN-Hy.2009-0204).
Norfolk Ridge. CHALCAL 2, stn DW 78, 23°41.30’S, 167°59.60’E, 233-360 m, 30.X.1986, 2 stems up to 35 mm high, on coral (MNCN 2.03/427).
SMIB 4, stn DW 51, 23°41.3’- 23°40.5’S, 168°00.6’- 168°00.7’E, 245-260 m, 9.III.1989, 2 fragments up to 25 mm long (MNHN-Hy.2009-0202). — Stn DW 53, 23°40.1’- 23°39.5’S, 167°59.9’- 168°00.3’E, 250-270 m, 9.III.1989, 2 stems and 2 fragments up to 47 mm high (MNHN-Hy.2009-0203).
SMIB 5, stn DW 70, 23°40.6’S, 168°01.1’E, 270 m, 7.IX.1989,3 stems up to 24mm high (MNCN 2.03 /428).— Stn DW 71, 23°41.3’S, 168°00.7’E, 265 m, 7.IX.1989, 1 stem c. 17 mm high (MNHN-Hy.2009-0205). — Stn DW 76, 23°41.2’S, 168°00.5’E, 280 m, 7.IX.1989, a few fragments up to 28 mm long (MNHN-Hy.2009-0206); a stem c. 15 mm high in slide (MNCN 2.03 /400). — Stn DW 78, 23°40.8’S, 168°00.2’E, 245 m, 7.IX.1989, 3 fragments up to 7 mm long (MNCN 2.03 /429). — Stn DW 101, 23°21.2’S, 168°04.9’E, 270 m, 14.IX.1989, 2 stems up to 30 mm high (MNCN 2.03 /430).
ETYMOLOGY. — The specific name novaecaledoniae refers to the New Caledonia region where it was found. The species name is a noun in female genitive.
ECOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION. — Acryptolaria novaecaledoniae n. sp. was taken in the Norfolk Ridge area and near the Loyalty Islands, where it was collected at depths between 233 and 370 m. It occurred epibiotic on corals.
DESCRIPTION
Stems up to 60 mm high, strongly polysiphonic. Branching frequent (up to fourth-order branches observed) and irregular, but more or less in one plane (Fig. 32E), sometimes with anastomoses; branches straight (Fig. 21A).
Hydrothecae alternately arranged, approximately in one plane (Fig. 21A), mostly cylindrical (Fig. 21); diameter only decreasing at their base. Hydrotheca strongly curved outwards, free part initially more or less perpendicular to adnate basal part, but eventually slightly turned upwards. As a consequence, the adcauline hydrothecal wall is convex in its adnate basal part and moderately concave in its free portion. Abcauline wall straight or slightly convex over basal third, followed by a strongly marked inflection point (sometimes forming a shallow embayment), to run straight or convex over its remaining length.Hydrotheca adnate for slightly over half of its adcauline length (adnate/free ratio 1.2); aperture circular, oblique, upwardly directed. Rim even, frequently with several short renovations (Fig. 21A, D).
Large nematocysts relatively small and bananashaped (Fig. 30).
Coppinia not observed.
REMARKS Acryptolaria novaecaledoniae n. sp. is certainly close to A. inversa n. sp.; the nematocysts in both species are of the same size. Nevertheless, they are distinguishable by the degree of branching, that is scarce in A. inversa n. sp. and frequent in A. novaecaledoniae n. sp., but especially by the shape of the hydrothecae which in A. novaecaledoniae n. sp. are never directed downwards and are deprived of the peculiar abcauline hump so characteristic of A. inversa n. sp. Moreover, A. inversa n. sp. has longer hydrothecae with a much longer free proportion.
description: Published as part of Peña Cantero, Álvaro L. & Vervoort, Willem, 2010, Species of Acryptolaria Norman, 1875 (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Lafoeidae) collected in the Western Pacific by various French expeditions, with the description of nineteen new species, pp. 267-332 in Zoosystema 32 (2) on pages 308-310, DOI: 10.5252/z2010n2a5, http://zenodo.org/record/4521008