Scandia gigas Pieper 1884
Creators: name: Gravili, Cinzia
name: Vito, Doris De
name: Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di
name: Martell, Luis
name: Piraino, Stefano
name: Boero, Ferdinando
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Hydrozoa
Leptothecata
Hebellidae
Scandia
Scandia gigas

description: Scandia gigas (Pieper, 1884)
Fig. 76 A–C
See Boero et al. (1997a) for a complete synonymy.
Material examined. HCUS-S 0 83 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).
Description (based on our own observations; Boero et al. 1997a):
Hydroid. Colonies stolonal; hydrocauli as erect pedicels scarcely, dichotomously or irregularly branched and ended in hydrothecae, perisarc undulated or twisted throughout; hydrothecae tubular, elongated, walls sometimes asymmetrical, narrowing gradually towards the base, with a hydrothecal diaphragm, margin everted, rim even. Gonothecae: female gonothecae spherical, male ones sac-shaped and elongated.
Cnidome. Microbasic mastigophores.
Habitat type. Littoral and shelf species that has been found from the tidal level to about 90 m depth in the Mediterranean Sea (Boero & Fresi 1986; Roca 1986).
Substrate. Hydroids, algae, Posidonia, other organisms such as bryozoans, sponges, anthozoans, polychaete tubes, bivalve and gastropod shells, cirripedes, ascidians, and non-living substrata.
Seasonality: July–April (Boero & Fresi 1986) in the Ligurian Sea; January, April–June, August, September, November (for a review see Bouillon et al. 2004); January–December (De Vito 2006; this study) in Salento waters.
Reproductive period. April (Gili 1986); July (Broch 1933); July–August (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002); August–September (Boero & Fresi 1986) in the Mediterranean Sea.
Distribution. Temperate waters Atlantic and Pacific, Mediterranean (Stechow 1919; Broch 1933; Fraser 1946; Patriti 1970; Marinopoulos 1979; Isasi 1985; Altuna 1994; Medel & López-González 1996; Boero et al. 1997a; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Bouillon et al. 2004; Galea 2008; Gravili et al. 2008a; Puce et al. 2009; Soto Ãngel & Peña Cantero 2013).
Records in Salento. Moderately frequent in the following localities: Grotta del Ciolo (Moscatello & Belmonte 2007); Il Chiapparo, Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006; Gravili et al. 2008a; this study).
Remarks. In the Mediterranean area many authors used the name Scandia pocillum for Lafoea gigas Pieper, 1884. Boero (1981a) reintroduced the name S. gigas since Cornelius (1975) showed that L. pocillum is conspecific with L. dumosa. Gonothecae and medusae not seen in the present study.
References. Stechow (1919 as Hebella gigas, 1923 as Croatella gigas), Broch (1933) as Hebellopsis gigas, Leloup (1934), Picard (1958a), Riedl (1959, 1966), Rossi (1961, 1971 as Scandia pocillum), Sarà et al. (1978), García Corrales et al. (1979) as S. pocillum, Boero (1981a, b), García Carrascosa (1981) as S. pocillum, Gili (1982, 1986), Isasi (1985) as S. pocillum, Boero & Fresi (1986), Llobet et al. (1986, 1991), Roca (1986) as Scandia parvula, Roca et al. (1991), Medel (1996), Medel & López-González (1996), Boero et al. (1997a), Piraino et al. (1999), Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa (2002), Bouillon et al. (2004), De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006), Galea (2007), Moscatello & Belmonte (2007), Gravili et al. (2008a), Puce et al. (2009).
description: Published as part of Gravili, Cinzia, Vito, Doris De, Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di, Martell, Luis, Piraino, Stefano & Boero, Ferdinando, 2015, The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide, pp. 1-187 in Zootaxa 3908 (1) on pages 107-108, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/242729