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Life cycle of Bougainvillia nana (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Bougainvilliidae) from Italy, including a discussion of Bougainvillia muscus in the Mediterranean Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2007

Francesco Denitto ,
Maria Pia Miglietta  and
Ferdinando Boero
Francesco Denitto
Affiliation:
Laboratorio di Zoologia e Biologia Marina e Stazione di Biologia Marina, Di.S.Te.B.A., Università del Salento, Via Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
Maria Pia Miglietta
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Naos Laboratory, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama
Ferdinando Boero
Affiliation:
Laboratorio di Zoologia e Biologia Marina e Stazione di Biologia Marina, Di.S.Te.B.A., Università del Salento, Via Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
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Abstract

The life cycle of a species of the genus Bougainvillia (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa), found in the southern Mediterranean Sea, Italy, is here described. Hydroid colonies produced immature medusae with two tentacles and two ocelli per bulb and four unbranched oral tentacles. The number of tentacles and ocelli, which remained constant during the entire life cycle, are here considered diagnostic characters to identify the present as a new species. Female medusae lived up to 47 days (with an average of 30 days) when reared at 17°C, while males, reared at the same temperature, were short-lived, concluding their life cycle in no more than 15 days. The medusa of this species resembles B. ramosa var. nana described by Hartlaub in 1911 on the basis of few specimens and no polyp stage. After the complete life cycle has been observed, and given its peculiar medusa stage, Hartlaub's subspecies (variant) must be promoted to species rank as Bougainvillia nana.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 87 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 853 - 857
Copyright
2007 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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