Lafoea dumosa Fleming 1820

Lafoea dumosa (Fleming, 1820)

Lafoea dumosa —Peña Cantero et al., 2004: 2291–2293, fig. 6F (synonymy); Peña Cantero, 2006: 935, fig. 3A; 2008: 454; 2010b: 765; 2013: 128; 2014a: 1717; Peña Cantero & Gili, 2006: 766; Peña Cantero & Vervoort, 2009: 85; Galea & Schories, 2012: 7; Soto Àngel & Peña Cantero, 2015: 989 fig. 3k.

Lafoea gracillima— Totton, 1930: 158 –159, fig. 15a–b.

Material examined. Stn 14, one stem fragment 25 mm long (NIWA 117488); Stn 17, one stem 8 mm high (NIWA 117489); Stn 21, five stem fragments up to 12 mm long, probably belonging to two stems (MNCN 2.03/534); Stn 22, one stem fragment 20 mm long (NIWA 117490); Stn 24, two stems up to 12 mm high (MNCN 2.03/535); Stn 25, one stem 3 mm high on Billardia subrufa (NIWA 117491); Stn 34, one stem fragment 25 mm long (NIWA 117492); Stn 53, two stem fragments up to 7 mm long (NIWA 117493); Stn 112, one stem 10 mm high (NIWA 117494); Stn 126, one colony with a few stolonal hydrothecae, one stem 4 mm high on Staurotheca densa, and one stem 20 mm high on Campanularia hicksoni (NIWA 117495); Stn 128, one stem 20 mm high (MNCN 2.03/536); Stn 129, six stems up to 40 mm high (NIWA 117496); Stn 130, six stems up to 22 mm high on Staurotheca densa (MNCN 2.03/537); Stn 132, several stems up to 45 mm high on Billardia subrufa and tube of benthic organism (NIWA 117497); Stn 139, a few stems up to 10 mm high on gravel and hydroid stem, and a few stolonal hydrothecae on Staurotheca nonscripta (MNCN 2.03/538); Stn 178, two fragments up to 10 mm long (NIWA 117498).

Ecology and distribution. Species found, in Antarctic waters, at depths between 12 (Stepanjants 1979) and 1157 m (Peña Cantero 2014a); present material from 85 to 451 m, epilithic on gravel and epibiotic on Billardia subrufa, Campanularia hicksoni, Staurotheca densa, S. nonscripta and tube of benthic organism.

Cosmopolitan distribution, frequently reported around Antarctica. Recently reported from off Livingston Island (Peña Cantero 2006, 2008), Bouvet Island (Peña Cantero & Gili 2006), Deception Island (Peña Cantero 2008), Bransfield Strait and off Elephant and Bransfield islands (Peña Cantero & Vervoort 2009), off Low Island (Peña Cantero & Vervoort 2009; Peña Cantero 2013), Peter I Island (Peña Cantero 2010b), King George Island (Galea & Schories 2012), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Soto Àngel & Peña Cantero 2015), all in West Antarctica, and from off Queen Mary Coast (Peña Cantero 2014a), in East Antarctica. See Peña Cantero et al. (2004) for previous records. In the Ross Sea, already known from McMurdo Sound and off Cape Adare (Totton 1930). Present material collected in Robertson Bay and off Cape Adare, Adare Peninsula, Possession Islands, Moubray Bay and Cape Hallett.