Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants 1979

• Main Authors: Peña Cantero, Álvaro L., Vervoort, Willem
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2010
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Cnidaria; Hydrozoa; Leptothecata; Lafoeidae; Acryptolaria; Acryptolaria operculata; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4551922; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E5636AFFB0FF89FF7B555072E5FA2D

Acryptolaria cf. operculata Stepanjants, 1979 (Figs 22; 30; Table 23) Acryptolaria operculata Stepanjants, 1979: 52, pl. 9 fig. 5A, B. — Peña Cantero et al. 2007: 258-261, figs 12, 16D, 18D, 19E, tab. XII. Acryptolaria patagonica El Beshbeeshy, 1991: 67-70, fig. 14. ? Acryptolaria patagonica – Watson 2003: 162, 163, fig. 12A-C. — Vervoort & Watson 2003: 51-53, fig. 7A-G. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Norfolk Ridge. BIOCAL 1, stn DW 70, 23°24.700’- 23°25.650’S, 167°53.650’- 167°52.700’E, 965 m, 4.IX.1985, 1 stem c. 8 mm high and a few stolonal hydrothecae on coral (MNHN-Hy.2009-0207). CHALCAL 2, stn DW 76, 23°40.50’S, 167°45.20’E, 470 m, 30.X.1986, 1 stem c. 14 mm high (RMNH-Coel. no. 31523). ECOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION. — Acryptolaria operculata has been collected from depths between 98 and 980 m (El Beshbeeshy1991).Its confirmed known distribution includes sub-Antarctic waters of the Patagonian shelf (Stepanjants 1979; El Beshbeeshy 1991). Our material originates from the Norfolk Ridge area where it was collected at depths between 470 and 965 m, living epibiotic on corals. DESCRIPTION Stems up to 14 mm high, unbranched.Hydrothecae tubular, roughly cylindrical at free part (Fig. 22), diameter decreasing basally at adnate portion; minimum diameter at base. Hydrotheca strongly and regularly curved outwards (Fig. 22), adnate in one-third of its adcauline length (adnate/free ratio 0.6). Adcauline wall convex; abcauline wall concave. Hydrothecal aperture circular, directed upwards, forming an angle of 30° with long axis of branch. Rim even, with few short renovations. Large nematocysts relatively small and fusiform (Fig. 30). Coppinia not found. REMARKS See Peña Cantero et al. (2007) for an extensive discussion of this species, mentioning also the presence of a one-flap operculum in the hydrothecae. These authors characterized the species by the size and arrangement of the hydrothecae.Although there are other species of a similar size (e.g., A. infinita n. sp.) and with hydrothecae arranged in two planes making an obtuse ...