Sertularella robustissima Horia R. Galea & Dirk Schories & Verena Häussermann & Günter Försterra 2017, sp. nov.

• Main Authors: Horia R. Galea, Dirk Schories, Verena Häussermann, Günter Försterra
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Cnidaria; Hydrozoa; Leptothecata; Sertulariidae; Sertularella; Sertularella robustissima; Magallanes; Copihue; Antártica
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6029765; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6029765

Sertularella robustissima Galea, Häussermann & Försterra, sp. nov. Fig. 16 A-D Sertularella argentinica. – Galea, 2007: 59, fig. 14A-C. – Galea et al., 2007c: 312, fig. 3I [non Sertularella argentinica El Beshbeeshy, 2011 = Sertularella clausa (Allman, 1888)]. Holotype material: MHNG-INVE-53268; Chile, Región de Aysén, Guaitecas Archipelago, NW of Melinka, -43.88333° -73.71667°, 10-15 m, coll. HSFS, HF1; 08.03.2005; a 8 cm high, sterile colony. Additional material: HRG-0611; Chile, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena, Canal Copihue, -50.33979° -75.37834°, 16 m, coll. HSFS, HF16, lot #084; 16.04.2013; a 8 cm high, sterile colony. Diagnosis: Colonies bonsai-like, with strongly fascicled stems and dark brown perisarc; internodes slightly demarcated, short, almost collinear; hydrothecae short, tubular, curved outwards, marginal cusps separated by large, shallow embayments. Etymology: A superlative of the Latin rōbustus, -a, -um, with reference to the sturdiness of the stems of this species. Description: Colonies bonsai-like, up to 8 cm high, arising from well-developed, rhizoid mass of stolonal fibers firmly attached to substrate; composed of single, thick, strongly fascicled stem, unbranched in lower half, and forming numerous, irregularlydirected side branches in upper half; main branches polysiphonic proximally, giving rise to bundles of 2-4 basally parallel, distally diverging, monosiphonic branchlets, up to 3 cm long, each branched again up to 2 times; branching almost regular, alternate, every 3 consecutive hydrothecae (rarely 2). Both stem and branches delimited into rather short, almost collinear internodes by means of oblique nodes slanting in alternate directions; a hydrotheca, or a hydrotheca and a lateral apophysis below its base, confined to the distal end of each internode. Hydrothecae rather short, tubular, distinctly curved outwards, adnate to the corresponding internode for slightly more than half their length; free adaxial wall smooth to slightly undulated; aperture with 4 small, ...