Two new genera and nine new species of hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from off New Caledonia

Horia R Galea

doi:10.5852/ejt.2015.135

Abstract

Two new genera and nine new species of hydroids are described based on deep-water material collected from off New Caledonia during various expeditions of the French Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos program. Caledoniana gen. nov., provisionally included in the family Sertulariidae Lamouroux, 1812, presently comprises three new species, viz. C. alata sp. nov., C. decussata sp. nov., and C. microgona sp. nov., while an additional group of three new species, is accommodated in the new sertulariid genus Solenoscyphus gen. nov.: S. candelabrum sp. nov., S. decidualis sp. nov., and S. striatus sp. nov. Furthermore, three new species of Hincksella Billard, 1918 (family Syntheciidae Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1890) are described, namely H. cornuta sp. nov., H. neocaledonica sp. nov., and H. similis sp. nov.

Highlights

Large collections of hydroids were gathered during numerous French expeditions, conducted conjointly by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, formerly ORSTOM) and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) of Paris, in the tropical southwestern Pacific
Launched early in the 1980’s as the MUSORSTOM campaigns and continuing until today under the name Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos, these expeditions aimed at exploring the deep-sea fauna of a vast geographical area extending from Taiwan to the Marquesas, and encompassing the Philippines, the Banda Sea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Tonga, and the Austral Islands (Bouchet et al 2008)
Etymology Named after the area of occurrence of its species, New Caledonia

Summary

Introduction

Large collections of hydroids were gathered during numerous French expeditions, conducted conjointly by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, formerly ORSTOM) and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) of Paris, in the tropical southwestern Pacific. Diagnosis Colonies lightly fascicled basally, loosely branched, coplanar; nodes indistinct, internodes relatively short; hydrothecae in opposite pairs in both coplanar and decussate series; long, tubular, free part straight.

Results

Conclusion