Sertularella blanconae El Beshbeeshy 2011

Sertularella blanconae El Beshbeeshy, 2011

Figs 1C, 4A, C-H; Table 3

Sertularella blanconae El Beshbeeshy, 2011: 125, fig. 39. – Galea & Schories, 2012a: 37, fig. 3P-S. – Galea et al., 2014: 32, pl. 3A, figs 6C, 7B.

Sertularella geodiae. – Blanco, 1976: 39, pl. 3 figs 7-8. – (?) Millard, 1977: 23, fig. 6E-F. – Blanco, 1994: 199 [non Sertularella geodiae Totton, 1930].

Sertularella conica. – Blanco, 1982: 154, figs 2-5. – Blanco,

1994: 198 [non Sertularella conica Allman, 1877].

Sertularella Gayi. – p.p. Jäderholm, 1903: 281 [non Sertularel-

la gayi (Lamouroux, 1821)].

(?) Sertularella gayi gayi. – Vervoort, 1972: 116, fig. 36A, B

[non Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821)].

(?) Sertularella gayi var. gayi. – Stepanjants, 1979: 87, pl. 16 fig. 4A, B [non Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821)].

Material examined: MHNG-INVE-86243; Chile, Región de Aysén, Isla Teresa, -44.95713° -73.79447°, 21.6 m, coll. HSFS, HF11, lot C234; 27.11.2011; a profuse, sterile colony with stems up to 16 cm high. – MHNG-INVE-86244; Chile, Región de Aysén, Isla Level, -44.47348° -7420472°, 25 m, coll. HSFS, HF11, lot C128; 24.11.2011; a ca. 7 cm high, fragmentary colony with male gonothecae. – HRG-0392; Chile, Región de Magallanes y de Antártica Chilena, Punta Arenas, Faro San Isidro, -53.78174° -70.97391°, 40 m, coll. D. Schories, lot #27; 04.01.2011; three sterile colony fragments 1.2-1.7 cm high. – HRG-0696; Chile, Región de Magallanes y de Antártica Chilena, Isla Santibañez, -54.91725° -68.36317°, 29 m, coll. HSFS, HF9, lot C247; 16.12.2010; very fragmented colony with lightly fascicled stems, some bearing spent gonothecae. – HRG-0694; Chile, Región de Aysén, southern exist of Canal Williams, -45.60103° -74.47819°, 8.9 m, coll. HSFS, HF11, lot C009; 19.11.2011; a profuse, ca. 8 cm high, sterile colony composed of several polysiphonic stems. – HRG- 1168; Chile, Región de los Lagos, southern Chiloé, Isla Yencouma, -43.419316° -74.081766°, 10 m, coll. HSFS, HF22, lot #65; 18.01.2015; two profuse, ca. 7 cm high, infertile colonies with polysiphonic stems. – SMNH 123866; Chile, Punta Arenas, coll. Swedish Tierra del Fuego Expedition 1895-1896; 05.12.1895; microslide (Fig. 1C) containing two sterile colony fragments, 2.0 and 2.3 cm high [material identified by Jäderholm (1903) as S. gayi (Lamouroux, 1821)].

Comparison material: HRG-1006; France, Roscoff, Trou aux Singes, 48.7961° -3.9708°, 72 m, leg. P. Schuchert; 08.09.2014; a 4.5 cm high, fertile colony of Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821). – HRG-0553; France, Brittany, depth unrecorded, coll. F. Ziemski; (day and month unavailable) 2011; a few infertile stems and fragments, up to 3.7 cm high, of S. gayi.

Description: Large, fan-shaped colonies, up to 16 cm high arising from broad, rhizoid stolon firmly attached to substrate; stems giving rise to irregularly-ramified side branches, up to the 3rd order; both stems and branches highly fascicled for most of their length; monosiphonic parts with regularly-pinnate structure. Both stems and branches divided into short, almost collinear internodes by means of weak, oblique constrictions of the perisarc. Each internode with a hydrotheca, or a hydrotheca and a short apophysis immediately below its base; apophyses alternate, arising generally every three hydrothecae. Hydrothecae biseriate, alternate, flask-shaped, adnate for about half their length; free adaxial wall slightly swollen and provided with 3-4 undulations, more prominent proximally, weaker distally, prolonged as inconspicuous transverse ridges at surface, not reaching the abaxial wall; the latter slightly concave to almost straight for most of its length, becoming convex below the aperture, surface smooth; aperture mounted on short, constricted neck region, expanding at rim; the latter with 4 pointed, equal, triangular cusps separated by moderately-deep, rounded embayments; margin occasionally renovated; 4 triangular opercular flaps with concentric striae; no intrathecal, submarginal cusps. Gonothecae (only male known) elongated-ovoid, lateral walls with up to 8 transverse ridges, of which 5-6 distalmost are complete and prominent, while the remaining ones become obsolete towards the base; aperture borne on the summit of a short neck region, and is flanked by 4 blunt-ended projections of perisarc.

Dimensions: See Table 3.

Remarks: The typical shape of a well-developed colony is illustrated in Galea et al. (2014, pl. 3A), and a male gonotheca in fig. 7B of the same paper. This species has been previously confused with S. gayi (Lamouroux, 1821) by a number of authors (see synonymy). Their morphological differences are obvious by comparing Fig. 3A, C-H and Fig. 3B, I.

Distribution: Chile – Región de los Lagos [southern Chiloé (present study)]; Región de Aysén [Isla Level, Isla Teresa (Galea et al., 2014); Canal Williams (present study)]; Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena [south of Peninsula Brunswick (Galea & Schories, 2012a); Isla Dawson and Punta Arenas (Jäderholm, 1903, as S. gayi); Isla Santibañez (present study)]. Tierra del Fuego, no exact locality (? Stepanjants, 1979, as S. gayi var. gayi). Argentina – Provincia del Chubut [(?) off Península Valdés (Vervoort, 1972, as S. gayi gayi), off Cabo Dos Bahías (Blanco, 1982; 1994, both as S. conica)]; Provincia de Santa Cruz [Puerto Deseado (Vervoort, 1972, as S. gayi gayi)]; Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur [off the eastern entrance of the Magellan Strait (Blanco, 1976; 1994, both as S. geodiae); around Península Mitre (Blanco, 1982; 1994, both as S. conica)]; numerous scattered records from the Argentine Shelf between ca. 40°-54° S (El Beshbeeshy, 2011). Falkland Is. [(?) Stepanjants (1979, as S. gayi var. gayi); off the N coast (Blanco, 1982; 1994, both as S. conica); off the SE coast (El Beshbeeshy, 2011)]. (?) French Southern and Antarctic Lands – Crozet Shelf (Millard, 1977, as S. geodiae).