Plumularioidea (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME)

ABSTRACT

This paper provides the results obtained after study of a small collection of benthic hydroids belonging to the superfamily Plumularioidea McCrady, 1859 collected during four oceanographic surveys, carried out between 2005 and 2008 along the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) off the West African coast. The samples were obtained at nine stations located between 18 and 359 m depth using a bottom trawl (BT) and a Petersen grab. A total of 30 colonies were identified, belonging to 10 species, five genera and three families. The family Aglaopheniidae showed the highest specific richness, with five species, followed by Halopterididae (three species) and Plumulariidae (two species). One new species of the genus Aglaophenia Lamouroux, 1812, A. willasseni sp. nov., is described, and is characterized by the morphology of its lateral nematothecae, provided with two apertures, a feature described here for the first time within this genus. In addition, Halopteris alternata and H. diaphana are reported for the first time from the GCLME region. Our findings of Aglaophenia lophocarpa, Lytocarpia myriophyllum, H. alternata and H. diaphana in Gabon represent the southernmost records of these species in the eastern Atlantic.

Publication LSID: lsid:http://zoobank.org:pub:434AEF7D-457A-4C54-8AA1-A2782BFABEE

KEYWORDS:

• North-west Africa
• Hydroidolina
• Leptothecata
• Aglaophenia willasseni sp. nov
• new species

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Professor Endre Willassen, Jon Anders Kongsrud and Katrine Kongshavn of the University Museum of Bergen, for their hospitality and assistance during our pleasant stay in their laboratory, to study the collections of North-west African hydroids. Special thanks go to Dr Ana Ramos for her ongoing support at all stages of this study, and also for her total involvement in benthic research in Africa.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was performed within the framework of the Spanish ECOAFRIK project and has been partly supported by the MAVA Fondation pour la Nature under grant [MAVA contract 12/87 AO C4/2012]. This is ECOAFRIK publication number 38.