Sertularella cruzensis El Beshbeeshy 2011

Sertularella cruzensis El Beshbeeshy, 2011

Fig. 7 I-L; Table 6

Sertularella cruzensis El Beshbeeshy, 2011: 128, fig. 40.

Sertularella grandensis El Beshbeeshy, 2011: 20 [new name for Nutting’s (1904, p. 79) record of Sertularella conica Allman, 1877; nomen nudum].

Sertularella conica. – p.p. Nutting, 1904: 79. – Vervoort, 1972: 123, fig. 38 [non Sertularella conica Allman, 1877].

Material examined: ZMH C11556; FRV Walther Herwig, Stn. 384, -39.93333° -57.18333°, 95 m; 19.07.1966; a 1.3 cm high sterile stem or branch fragment, with only the perisarc left (holotype).

Description: Colonies up to 3 cm high, composed of short, monosiphonic, sparingly-branched stems. Both stems and branches divided into rather short internodes delimited by oblique constrictions of perisarc slanting in alternate directions; a hydrotheca to the distal end of each internode; perisarc thick throughout the colony. Side branches, if present, arising laterally from below the bases of stem hydrothecae, and not branched further; 1 st internode usually longer than subsequent ones. Hydrothecae biseriate, alternate, strictly coplanar; large, cylindrical, adnate for less than half their length to their corresponding internodes; slightly swollen basally, especially on adaxial side; abaxial wall almost straight for most of its length, slightly curving outwards below aperture; free adaxial wall wavy, with 3-5 undulations of the perisarc; aperture facing outwards, rim with 4 small, equally-developed, triangular cusps separated by shallow, semicircular embayments; margin usually renovated many times; a 4-flapped operculum, also renovated. Gonothecae unknown.

Dimensions: See Table 6.

Remarks: The description given above is based on the reexamination of the holotype, combined with the account of Vervoort (1972, as S. conica). The material from Albatross Stn. 2771 assigned to S. conica by Nutting (1904) was reexamined by Vervoort, and it is here included in the synonymy of the present species.

Distribution: Chile – Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena [Magellan Strait (Vervoort, 1972, as S. conica)]. Argentina – Provincia de Buenos Aires [off Bahía Blanca (Vervoort, 1972, as S. conica; El Beshbeeshy, 2011)]; Provincia de Santa Cruz [records from both off the eponymous city (Nutting, 1904, as S. conica) and the province’s coast (Vervoort, 1972, as S. conica)]; Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur [off the southern coast of the Península Mitre (Vervoort, 1972, as S. conica)]. Falkland Is. – off the northwest coast (Vervoort, 1972, as S. conica).