Dentitheca dendritica

Abstract

<i>Dentitheca dendritica</i> (Nutting 1900) <p>Fig. 3</p> <p> <i>Plumularia dendritica</i> Nutting, 1900: 67, pl. 8, figs. 4–6.— Jones, 2002: 217.</p> <p> <i>Dentitheca dendritica</i> — Humann, 1992: 73, middle photograph.— Humann & DeLoach, 2002: 73, middle photograph—Cairns <i>et al.</i>, 2002: 55.</p> <p> <i>Dentitheca dendritica</i> ― Calder & Kirkendale, 2005: 482.</p> <p> <b>Type locality.</b> Bahamas: near Little Cat Island (Nutting 1900: 67).</p> <p> <b>Voucher material.</b> Reef patches of Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia. 49,2 feet (15 m). April 2016. SCUBA. Fragment of the hydrocaulus with several branches (hydrocladia).</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> Fan-shaped colonies arising in a root-like form that is interwoven. Hydrocaulus polysiphonic and pinnately arranged. Brown and thick perisarc. The primary branches are polysiphonic and the subsequent ones also but in a smaller proportion until reaching the hydrocladia, which is monosiphonic. Main tube is divided into internodes by weak transverse nodes. Apophyses ending in a distal, oblique node with a cone-shaped nematotheca. Hydrocladia homomerously segmented into internodes separated by oblique nodes. Centrally placed hydrothecae with three nematotheca, one in the middle and two lateral. Hydrothecae tubular, adnate, abcauline side straight to slightly convex, slightly everted at rim. The hydrothecal margin has two lateral teeth with rounded tips. Mobile and bitalamic nematothecas; nematothecas from hydrothecae have a prominent apophyses; lateral nematothecas slightly surpassing the tips of lateral projection of the rim. Male gonotheca has a conical shape, the basal part narrows and the apical part widens. Flat operculum, usually develops from the nematothecas of the hydrocaulus.</p> <p> <b>Remarks.</b> Male gonotheca is similar with the morphology presented by Galea <i>et al.</i> (2012).</p> <p> <b>Reported distribution.</b> Atlantic coast of Florida. Palm Beach (Humann 1992; Humann & DeLoach 2002; Cairns <i>et al.</i> 2002).—Biscayne Bay (Jones 2002, as <i>Plumularia dendritica</i>). Florida (Humann 1992) and the Bahamas (Vervoort 1968, as <i>Plumularia dendritica</i>) to the Caribbean Sea (Calder & Kirkendale 2005; Galea 2010).</p>Published as part of <i>Torres-Rodríguez, Javier, Ortiz-Oyola, Daniel, Puentes-Sayo, Alejandra, Lecompte, Orlando P. & Jauregui, Aminta, 2020, Genetic and morphologic identities of hydrozoans (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from reef patches of Santa Marta, Colombian Caribbean, pp. 127-140 in Zootaxa 4758 (1)</i> on pages 133-134, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4758.1.5, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3731737">http://zenodo.org/record/3731737</a&gt