Halecium vasiforme Fraser 1935

Halecium vasiforme Fraser, 1935b

Halecium vasiforme Fraser, 1935b: 109, pl. 2, figs. 8a, b.

Syntypes. BCPM 976-00503-001: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, “on tidal marks”, 25 August 1933, on barnacle fragments, in poor condition, labelled " type "; dry.

BCPM 976-00503-002: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, “on tidal marks”, 25 August 1933, on barnacle shell, several colony fragments, in fair to fairly good condition, some with gonothecae; slide.

Lectotype, by present designation. RBCM 976-00503-003: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, “on tidal marks”, 25 August 1933, on barnacle shell, one colony fragment (upper left corner of the mount), in fairly good condition, with gonothecae; slide.

Paralectotypes. BCPM 976-00503-001: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, “on tidal marks”, 25 August 1933, on barnacle fragments, in poor condition, labelled " type "; dry.

BCPM 976-00503-002: Japan, Sagami Bay, Hayama, “on tidal marks”, 25 August 1933, on barnacle fragments, several colony fragments, in fair to fairly good condition, some with gonothecae; slide.

Type locality. Japan: Sagami Bay, Hayama, low tide, on barnacle shells (Fraser 1935b).

Current status. Valid.

Remarks. No name-bearing type has been designated before for Halecium vasiforme. Specimens in the Fraser Hydroid Collection at the RBCM (BCPM 976-00503-001; BCPM 976-00503-002), taken here to be syntypes, were originally from the collection of Emperor Hirohito. Material labelled as the “ type ” by Fraser (BCPM 976-00503- 001) is now dry and in poor condition. However, several specimens, varying from fair to fairly good, exist on a slide (BCPM 976-00503-002). While these may all be part of a single colony from one barnacle, we chose to select a single fragment on this slide as the lectotype. The best specimen, having gonothecae and located in the upper left corner of the mount, is designated by us as the lectotype (RBCM 976-00503-003). All other specimens on the slide, and any in the dry collection, are paralectotypes.

Five collections of the species at the NMNS (NSMT-HyR 1370–NSMT-HyR 1374) are from the type locality, and were collected before Fraser’s (1935b) description of the species. It is uncertain that they were examined by him during his description of this stolonal species, and they have not been included here as syntypes.

The original description of H. vasiforme by Fraser (1935b) provided accounts of the trophosome and female gonophores. Male gonophores were described later by Hirohito (1995). The hydroids examined by Fraser were epizoic on barnacles, but Hirohito also found specimens on algae, sponges, and gorgonians in Sagami Bay. The species is taken to be valid in WoRMS.