New records, taxonomic notes, descriptions and redescriptions of some uncommon thecate hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Leptothecata)

Abstract

Seven hydroids, mostly belonging to poorly-known or undescribed species, were found scattered among various collections entrusted to me for study. Type material of Serturella conica Allman, 1877, a hydroid originally described from off Florida, USA, was never reexamined so far to provide an up-to-date account on it, although a considerable number of records attributable to it exist in the literature, and are in need of a reevaluation. Sertularella inconstans Billard, 1919, with a type from the Halmahera Sea, Indonesia, is rediscovered as fertile specimens in a collection from the Gulf of Guinea. A congener that appears to belong to an undescribed species occurs in material from southern Madagascar. Fertile specimens belonging to another collection are assignable to S. laxa (Allman, 1888), making it possible to check the pertinence of its inclusion in the synonymy of S. unituba