Pachycordyle napolitana Weismann 1883
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
Anthoathecata
Bougainvilliidae
Pachycordyle
Pachycordyle napolitana

description: Pachycordyle napolitana Weismann, 1883
Fig. 6 A–C
See Schuchert (2004) for a complete synonymy.
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).
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 14-15, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/242729