Filellum serratum Clarke 1879

? Filellum serratum (Clarke, 1879)

Synonyms in the area:? Lafoea serrata —Hartlaub 1905 p. 595 [polyp]; Filellum serpens —Fraser 1938a, 1938b, 1939, 1948; Calder et al. 2003 [non Filellum serpens (Hassall, 1848); polyp];? Filellum serratum —Leloup 1974 p. 8 [polyp].

Remarks: polyp—Calder et al. (2003) examined Fraser’s material and assigned the specimens to Filellum serratum (Clarke, 1879). However, literature on the genus Filellum is replete with doubtful and incorrect records, because the authors based their identifications exclusively on the trophosome in the absence of coppiniae (Peña Cantero et al. 1998; Marques et al. 2011). Filellum serratum, for instance, can be diagnosed only by the morphology of its coppinia, since its trophosome is identical to other species of the genus (e.g. F. antarcticum, F. magnificum, and F. nitidum; see Marques et al. 2011). There is no record of the coppinia of F. serratum for South American waters—consequently, all records are doubtful.

Distribution in South America: polyp—Pacific Ocean, Colombia, at 6.78°N 77.60°W in Octavia Bay, Ecuador, from 0.1°S to 1.5°S in Galápagos Archipelago, at 2.19°S 80.90°W in Santa Elena Bay, Chile, from 41.65°S to 52°S (Hartlaub 1905 p. 595; Fraser 1938a, 1938b, 1939, 1948; Leloup 1974 p. 8; Calder et al. 2003); Atlantic Ocean, Colombia, at 11.35°N 74.27°W in Santa Marta, Brazil to Argentina, at 3.54°S 38.8°W, from 18.50°S to 27.50°S, from 30ºS to 54°S (Vervoort 1972; Blanco 1976a, 1994a; Bandel & Wedler 1987; El Beshbeeshy 1991, 2011; Blanco 1994; Blanco et al. 1994; Genzano & Zamponi 1997, 2003; Grohmann 1997, 2006; Grohmann et al. 1997, 2003; Nogueira et al. 1997; Genzano et al. 2002, 2009a; Migotto et al. 2002, 2004; Seo 2003; Miranda & Marques 2006, abstract; Fernanadez et al. 2015).

Habitat: polyp—species with a wide bathymetric range (Peña Cantero et al., 1998), up to 520m depth, on fouling, bryozoans, gastropods, polychaete tubes and usually on other hydroid colonies (Fraser 1938a, 1938b; Vervoort 1972; Leloup 1974 p. 8; Blanco 1976a, 1994a; Bandel & Wedler 1987; El Beshbeeshy 1991, 2011; Blanco 1994; Blanco et al. 1994; Genzano et al. 2002; Calder et al. 2003; Migotto et al. 2004; Fernanadez et al. 2015).