Halecium beanii Johnston 1838
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
Haleciidae
Halecium
Halecium beanii

description: Halecium beanii (Johnston, 1838)
Fig. 61 A–D
See Schuchert (2005b) for a complete synonymy.
Material examined. HCUS-S 0 68 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).
Description (based on our own observations; Medel & Vervoort 2000; Schuchert 2001a, 2005b):
Hydroid. Colonies erect, up to ca 250 mm; hydrocauli polysiphonic but becoming monosiphonic distally, irregularly branched; hydrocladia alternate, in the same plane, flexuose, varied in length, some of them branched, originating from base of hydrothecae, terminal parts of the axis and hydrocladia separated into internodes by means of slightly oblique nodes; hydrothecae shallow, with almost parallel walls, alternate, borne laterally at upper part of internodes, becoming axillary, primary hydrotheca sessile, but with frequent renovation, all with smooth and short hydrophores of similar length; rim of hydrotheca not everted. Gonophores: female gonotheca kidney-shaped, with 2 fused hydrothecae in the middle of concave side, larvae develop inside gonotheca, male gonotheca ovoid, elongated, with a terminal aperture.
Cnidome. Microbasic and macrobasic mastigophores.
Habitat type. Shallow-moderately deep waters (0–150 m) (Boero & Fresi, 1986; Schuchert 2005b).
Substrate. Dorocidaris (Echinodermata), algae, rock, concretions, barnacles, hydroids.
Seasonality. February (Stechow 1919; De Vito 2006; this study); April–December (Boero & Fresi 1986); February, June (Puce et al. 2009); January (C. Gravili unpublished observations) in the Mediterranean Sea.
Reproductive period. June, November–December (Boero & Fresi 1986), and June (Puce et al. 2009) in the Ligurian Sea.
Distribution. Nearly cosmopolitan (Kramp 1935; Naumov 1969 in part; Medel & López-González 1996; Medel & Vervoort 2000; Schuchert 2001a (in part), 2005b; Bouillon et al. 2004; Gravili et al. 2008a).
Records in Salento. Rare at Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006; Gravili et al. 2008a; this study).
Remarks. A cold water species that is apparently becoming rarer than in the past.
References. Motz-Kossowska (1911), Leloup (1934), Stechow (1919), Picard (1958a), Rossi (1971), Marinopoulos (1981), Boero (1985), Boero & Fresi (1986), Gili (1986), Llobet et al. (1986, 1991), Llobet i Nadal (1987), Medel & López-González (1996), Medel et al. (1998), Medel & Vervoort (2000), Bouillon et al. (2004), Schuchert (2005b), De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006), Gravili et al. (2008a), Morri et al. (2009), 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 88-89, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/242729