Two new species of Rosalinda (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Anthoathecata) from West African cold-water coral mounds

In this paper, two new species of the genus Rosalinda found growing on bivalves from West African cold-water coral mounds are described. Rosalinda nowaldi sp. nov. was found on Acesta angolensis (Adam & Knudsen, 1955) off northern Angola, and Rosalinda lundalvi sp. nov. on Acesta excavata (Fabricius, 1779) off Mauritania. Both new species have a similar cnidome, but they can be easily differentiated by the structure of their hydrorhizae and number of tentacles of the hydranths. The differences between the new species and all other species included in the genus Rosalinda on the basis of their morphology, habitat and geographical distribution were also established.