Leuckartiara octona ( Fleming, 1823 )

Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2025, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Guinea Bissau, Zootaxa 5577 (1), pp. 1-89 : 14-15

Leuckartiara octona ( Fleming, 1823)

Geryonia octona Fleming, 1823: 298 .

Leuckartiara octona : Christiansen, 1972: 288–289.—Millard, 1975: 123–125, fig. 41A–D.— Schuchert, 2007: 321–326, fig. 53.— Schuchert, 2012: 251–252, fig. 232.

Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS191, 10º18'25"– 10º19'20"N, 16º08'47"– 16º08'47"W, 24–25 m, 3-XI-2008: three colonies growing on bryozoans, of which one bearing medusa buds.

Remarks. The material collected in Northwest Africa is similar to those recorded from Galicia by Ramil (1988), Ansín Agís (1992) and Ramil et al. (1998), and represents the first record of L. octona for Guinea-Bissau.

Biology. Leuckartiara octona lives mostly epizootically on crustaceans, mollusks, worm tubes, stones, fragmented shells, poriferans, hydroids and, notably, on the parapodia of the sea mouse Aphrodita ( Rees & Thursfield 1965; Ansín Agís 1992; Ramil & Vervoort 1992a; Schuchert 2012). Polyps with medusa buds were found from April to October in the northern hemisphere ( Christiansen 1972; Schuchert 2007).

In our material, all colonies were attached to bryozoans. Medusa buds were recorded for the first time in this species in November.

Distribution. This is a circumglobal species in subtropical and temperate waters ( Gil & Ramil 2021b). In West Africa, it has been recorded from Morocco ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992a), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a) and Vema Seamount ( Gil & Ramil 2021b). Its bathymetric distribution ranges between the intertidal (Millard 1975) and 541 m ( Gil & Ramil 2021b).

Our material was collected at depths between 24–25 m.