Antennella curvitheca Fraser, 1937b

Antennella curvitheca Fraser, 1937b: 4, pl. 2, figs. 7a, b.

Holotype. USNM 43291: Puerto Rico, northeast coast near Las Cucarachas light, Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition Sta. 69, 18°24’30”N, 65°38’30”W, 9 fm (16 m), 24 February 1933, R/ V Caroline, one colony on an alga, ca. 5 mm high, in good condition, without gonophores, coll. Paul Bartsch, labelled “type” and “ holotype ”; ethanol.

Paratypes. BCPM 976-00816-001: Puerto Rico, north coast, Johnson Hydro Sta. 69, 9 fm (16 m), 24 February 1933, on algae, in fair condition, without gonothecae, labelled “co-type”; 60% IPA.

BCPM 976-00816-002: Puerto Rico, north coast, Johnson Hydro Sta. 69, 9 fm (16 m), 24 February 1933, on an alga, one colony, up to 6 mm high, in fair to fairly good condition, without gonothecae; slide.

Type locality. Puerto Rico: 18°24’30”N, 65°38’30”W, 9 fm (16 m) (Bartsch 1933, Sta. 69; Fraser 1937b).

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. The hydroid described as Antennella curvitheca by Fraser (1937b) was collected off the northeast coast of Puerto Rico during the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition. Material designated as the holotype by Fraser (USNM 43291), currently listed as a syntype in the NMNH online database, is taken to be a single colony after its examination here. Paratype material exists at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00816-001; BCPM 976-00816-002). No gonophores were present in Fraser’s material, but the species is distinctive in the curvature of the adcauline wall of the hydrotheca (Schuchert 1997). Gonothecae have subsequently been described by Van Gemerden-Hoogeveen (1965) and Schuchert (1997).

Antennella curvitheca is considered valid (Schuchert 1997; Cairns et al. 2002; WoRMS). Outside several locations in the Caribbean region (Galea 2010), the species is now known to range from Plantagenet (=Argus) Bank, near Bermuda (Calder 2000), to waters of the continental shelf off Brazil (Grohmann et al. 2003).