The World of Hydrozoa—Taxonomy, Faunistics and Zoogeography of Hydrozoa

A special issue of Taxonomy (ISSN 2673-6500).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 7778

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
DiSTeBA, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: marine biodiversity; taxonomy; Cnidaria; Hydrozoa; marine ecology; life cycle; invasive species

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Class Hydrozoa is the most diverse group of cnidarians. The number of known hydrozoan species is about 3800, although the status of many nominal species is currently unclear. The Hydrozoa are taken as an example of inconspicuous taxon whose knowledge has greatly progressed in recent decades. They have complex life cycles, and their evolution is accompanied by their taxonomic diversification and geographic expansion, including their present role among invasive species. Meanwhile, molecular data are opening new roads in their taxonomy for the understanding of morphological differences and current geographic distributions.

This Special Issue welcomes research manuscripts on all aspects of Hydrozoa: their systematics, morphology, zoogeography, ecology, and others.

Dr. Cinzia Gravili
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • taxonomy
  • morphology
  • phylogeny
  • life cycles
  • ecology
  • zoogeography
  • alien species

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 1790 KiB  
Article
Ptychogena lactea A. Agassiz, 1865 (Hydrozoa; Laodiceidae): What We Know on Taxonomy, Life-Cycle and Distribution
by Alexander E. Antsulevich
Taxonomy 2022, 2(4), 462-470; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy2040029 - 7 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1959
Abstract
The hydromedusa Ptychogena lactea A. Agassiz, 1865 is a large and remarkable jellyfish; it has been found in many Arctic and even boreal localities and at various depths, from the mesopelagial to the surface. However, it is still regarded in the literature as [...] Read more.
The hydromedusa Ptychogena lactea A. Agassiz, 1865 is a large and remarkable jellyfish; it has been found in many Arctic and even boreal localities and at various depths, from the mesopelagial to the surface. However, it is still regarded in the literature as a rare deep-water species, with an unknown polyp stage. The hydroid was reared from the medusa P. lactea in the Franz-Josef Land archipelago field laboratory. The hydroid was identified as Cuspidella procumbens Kramp, 1911: a poorly known Campanulinoidea, “Cuspidella-like” Arctic hydroid whose medusa stage was hitherto unknown. Both stages are here proposed to link taxonomically into a one nominal species. Co-distribution of the well-known medusa and the little-known hydroid is studied and mapped. Data on the distribution and ecology of both stages is added. Some data has already been published in Russian literature, but remains unknown to English-speaking scientists. New observations show that P. lactea is neither a deep-water species nor rare, and establish the continuity between medusae and polyp stages of the life cycle. Full article
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23 pages, 5494 KiB  
Article
Hidden Morphotypes and Homologous Series in Phenotype Variations in the Colonial Hydroids Dynamena pumila, Diphasia fallax, and Abietinaria abietina (Hydrozoa, Leptothecata)
by Nikolay N. Marfenin
Taxonomy 2022, 2(3), 347-369; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy2030027 - 1 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1634
Abstract
The intraorganismal variability of the shoot modules of three species of hydroids was studied to determine the degree of similarity between them. The strict form of the internodes (modules) of the shoots is repeated many times, which is useful for the study of [...] Read more.
The intraorganismal variability of the shoot modules of three species of hydroids was studied to determine the degree of similarity between them. The strict form of the internodes (modules) of the shoots is repeated many times, which is useful for the study of intraorganismal variability. Against the general background of the high stability of the shape of the internodes, we found significant deviations from the norm. Some resemble the structure of the internodes in other genera of the same family. Their morphogenesis is different from that characteristic of the studied species. Most of the anomalies were characterized by stable forms and low frequencies of occurrence (<0.2%). After the appearance of abnormal internodes, normal ones were found to usually re-form. Thus, it is doubtful that the anomalies were caused by mutations. There is also no reason to believe that the anomalies were caused by environmental factors, since they always formed singly along with normal shoot modules of the same modular organism. In Dynamena pumila, Diphasia fallax, and Abietinaria abietina, the composition of their morphovariations was found to be similar, and their frequencies were comparable, which confirms the assumption that several latent phenotypes can be formed indeterminately based on one genotype. The study was conducted on samples of >20,000 internodes of each of the three species. Full article
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9 pages, 285 KiB  
Article
British Naturalist Laura Roscoe Thornely (1860–1951), Taxonomist of Hydroids and Bryozoans
by Dale R. Calder
Taxonomy 2021, 1(3), 234-242; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy1030017 - 11 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2952
Abstract
Laura Roscoe Thornely was born on 6 March 1860 in Blundellsands, Lancashire, England. On approaching age 30, in the late 1880s, she became interested in the taxonomy of hydroids and bryozoans under Prof. W.A. Herdman at University College, Liverpool. Her studies during much [...] Read more.
Laura Roscoe Thornely was born on 6 March 1860 in Blundellsands, Lancashire, England. On approaching age 30, in the late 1880s, she became interested in the taxonomy of hydroids and bryozoans under Prof. W.A. Herdman at University College, Liverpool. Her studies during much of the 1890s were based largely on the relatively well-known fauna of the boreal northeastern North Atlantic Ocean. Around the turn of the century, however, her focus shifted to collections from the species-rich tropical Indo-West Pacific region, the hydroids and bryozoans of which were then little-known. The publications by Thornely on hydroids from the tropical western Pacific, from Sri Lanka, and from the Sudanese Red Sea, the most noteworthy of her works on the group, are still frequently cited. Concurrently, papers were published on the Bryozoa from Northern Ireland, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. Overall, she described 70 new species, with 26 of them based on hydroids and 44 on bryozoans; one hydroid species was assigned by her to a new genus. A person of affluent means, the motivation for her research appears to have been pure academic interest; she never held a university appointment or degree. Thornely died on 18 July 1951 at age 91 in Troutbeck, Westmorland, England. Full article
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