Laomedea calceolifera ( Hincks, 1871 )

Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2025, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Guinea Bissau, Zootaxa 5577 (1), pp. 1-89 : 34

Laomedea calceolifera ( Hincks, 1871)

( Fig. 5E–F )

Campanularia calceolifera Hincks, 1871: 78–79 , pl. 6.

Laomedea calceolifera : Cornelius, 1995b: 274–277, fig. 63.— Medel & Vervoort, 2000: 41–44, figs 9, 10A.— Bouillon et al., 2004: 198, fig. 112A–F.— Vervoort, 2006: 272.

Eulaomedea calceolifera : Millard, 1975: 223–224, fig. 73G–H.

Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS131, 11º34'07"– 11º33'13"N, 17º11'25"– 17º11'31"W, 102–103 m, 23-X-2008: two colonies, 14–27 mm high, with female gonothecae.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS191, 10º18'25"– 10º19'20"N, 16º08'47"– 16º08'47"W, 24–25 m, 3-XI-2008: one colony, growing on a crustacean, with female gonothecae.

Remarks. The shape of the female gonothecae, with the distal end bent downwards over the laterally-set aperture, is diagnostic for the species. Our finding represents the first record of L. calceolifera for Guinea-Bissau.

Biology. This species has been found growing on algae, sponges, barnacles (Ramil 1988) and mollusk shells (Ramil 1988; Medel & Vervoort 2000). In the northern hemisphere, colonies with gonothecae have been found in February, April, May–August, and October ( Fey 1969; Ramil 1988; Cornelius 1995b), while in the southern hemisphere, fertile colonies were found in December ( Cornelius 1995b).

In our material, one colony was growing on a crustacean, and gonothecae were observed in October and, for the first time, in November.

Distribution. Laomedea calceolifera is widely distributed in the East Atlantic, from the Arctic Seas to South Africa, including the Mediterranean, and in the West Atlantic, from Canada to Brazil (Ramil 1988; Medel & Vervoort 2000). The species has also been recorded from the Pacific coast of USA ( Leloup 1960) and as an introduced species in Japan ( Chaplygina 1993). In West Africa, it has been recorded only from the Cape Verde Islands ( Medel & Vervoort 2000; Vervoort 2006) and Cape Town in South Africa (Millard 1975). Its bathymetric distribution extends from the intertidal (Ramil 1988) to 1875 m ( Zvyagintsev et al. 2010).

Our material was collected at depths between 24–103 m.

Genus Obelia Péron & Lesueur, 1810

Figures

FIGURE 5. A–B. Orthopyxis mollis (Stechow, 1919) (stn BS194): portion of colony with hydrotheca and two gonothecae (A); portion of colony with two hydrothecae (B). C–D. Clytia linearis (Thornely, 1900) (stn BS191); hydrotheca (C); gonotheca (D). E–F, Laomedea calceolifera (Hincks, 1871) (stn BS131); hydrotheca (E); female gonotheca (F). Scales: a–f, 0.5 mm.