Pseudoplumaria marocana ( Billard, 1930 )

Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2025, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Guinea Bissau, Zootaxa 5577 (1), pp. 1-89 : 65

Pseudoplumaria marocana ( Billard, 1930)

( Fig. 11B )

Plumularia marocana Billard, 1930: 79 , fig. 1.— Patriti, 1970: 54, fig. 76A–B.— Ramil & Vervoort, 1992a: 186–191, figs 48B–D; 49A–B.

Pseudoplumaria marocana : Ramil & Vervoort, 1992b: 491–492, fig. 3.— Ansín Agís et al., 2001: 253–255, fig. 95.

Polyplumaria flabellata : Gili et al., 1989: 91, fig. 19 [non Polyplumaria flabellata G.O. Sars, 1874 ].

Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS182, 10º14'14"– 10º13'22"N, 16º32'49"– 16º32'44"W, 211–224 m, 1-XI-2008: two colonies without gonothecae, 152–170 mm high, substrate unknown.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS200, 10º18'55"N, 16º25'07"W, 79 m, 4-XI-2008: four colonies with gonothecae, 270– 366 mm high, substrate unknown.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS205, 10º19'09"– 10º19'47"N, 16º34'20"– 16º35'01"W, 203–204 m, 5-XI-2008: one colony without gonothecae, 176 mm high, substrate unknown.

Remarks. The colony habit, the ramification pattern without secondary hydrocladia, and the presence of a reduced nematotheca behind the adcauline wall of the hydrothecae allowed us to identify undoubtedly our material as P. marocana . Also, the presence of a characteristic mamelon on the cladial apophyses is relevant, as noted by Billard (1930) and Ramil & Vervoort (1992).

In some cases, we found quite long cladial internodes with unpaired distal nematothecae ( Fig. 11B ), a variation already described by Ramil & Vervoort (1992a).

The genera Polyplumaria and Pseudoplumaria were already included in the family Halopterididae by Calder (1997: 25), an affinity subsequently confirmed by molecular studies ( Moura et al. 2018).

Biology. In the northern hemisphere, fertile material has been found in July, October and November ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Gil & Ramil 2017a).

Distribution. Pseudoplumaria marocana is an East-Atlantic species recorded from off the Bay of Biscay ( Altuna 2012), the Cape San Vicente ( Portugal) ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992a, as Plumularia marocana ), the Ampère Bank ( Ramil et al. 1998), Atlantic side of the Strait of Gibraltar ( Medel & Vervoort 1995), Morocco ( Billard 1930, as Plumularia marocana ; Patriti 1970, as Plumularia marocana ; Ramil & Vervoort 1992a), Mauritania ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Gil & Ramil 2017a) and Guinea-Bissau ( Gili et al. 1989, as Polyplumularia flabellata ). Its bathymetric distribution ranges from 27 to 1378 m ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992a; Ansín Agís et al. 2001).

Our material was collected at depths between 79–224 m.

Figures

FIGURE 11.A. Polyplumaria flabellata G.O. Sars, 1874(stnBS133), portion of colony with a hydrocladium.B. Pseudoplumaria marocana (Billard, 1930) (stn BS143), portion of hydrocladium. C. Kirchenpaueria pinnata (Linnaeus, 1758) (stn BS147), portion of hydrocladium. D–E. Nemertesia irregularis (stn BS132); portion of hydrocladium (D); female gonotheca (E). F. Nemertesia ventriculiformis (Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1890) (stn BS152), portion of hydrocladium. Scales: a–f, 0.5 mm.