Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T11:57:33.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Description of the chirodropid box jellyfish Chiropsella rudloei sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) from Madagascar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2013

Bastian Bentlage*
Affiliation:
CMNS-Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: B. Bentlage, College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, 2107 Bioscience Research Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742-4407, USA email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A new species of chirodropid box jellyfish belonging to the genus Chiropsella (Cubozoa: Chirodropida: Chiropsalmidae) is described from Madagascar. In addition to being a new species from Madagascar, this represents the first record of the genus from Africa, and more generally the Indian Ocean. So far the genus Chiropsella is represented by two species, both of which are endemic to tropical Australian waters. The species described here most closely resembles Chiropsella bart from Arnhem Land, Australia. However, the species from Madagascar differs from C. bart in the shape of their rhopaliar niche ostium cover, the maximum number of tentacles, as well as their lack of pedalial keels. Furthermore, striking differences in the size of p-rhopaloids of the tentacular cnidomes were recorded between the two species. A tabular key distinguishing the genera of the Chiropsalmidae and the species of Chiropsella is provided.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barnes, J.H. (1966) Studies on three venomous Cubomedusae. In Rees, W.J. (ed.) The Cnidaria and their evolution. New York: Academic Press, pp. 307332.Google Scholar
Bentlage, B., Cartwright, P., Yanagihara, A.A., Lewis, C., Richards, G.S. and Collins, A.G. (2010) Evolution of box jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa), a group of highly toxic invertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B 277, 493501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornelius, P.F.S. (1997) Class Scyphozoa—jellyfish. In Richmond, M.D. (ed.) A guide to the seashores of eastern Africa and the western Indian Ocean islands. Stockholm: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, pp. 122125.Google Scholar
Currie, B.J., McKinnon, M., Whelan, B. and Alderslade, P. (2002) The Gove chirodropid: a box jellyfish appearing in the ‘safe season’. Medical Journal of Australia 177, 649.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenner, P.J., Lippmann, J. and Gershwin, L. (2010) Fatal and nonfatal severe jellyfish stings in Thai waters. Journal of Travel Medicine 17, 133138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershwin, L. (2006a) Comments on Chiropsalmus (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Chirodropida): a preliminary revision of the Chiropsalmidae, with descriptions of two new genera and two new species. Zootaxa 1231, 142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershwin, L. (2006b) Nematocysts of the Cubozoa. Zootaxa 1232, 157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershwin, L. and Alderslade, P. (2006) Chiropsella bart n. sp., a new box jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Chirodropida) from the Northern Territory, Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 22, 1521.Google Scholar
Gershwin, L. and Gibbons, M.J. (2009) Carybdea branchi, sp. nov., a new box jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) from South Africa. Zootaxa 2088, 4150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haeckel, E. (1880) System der Acraspeden—Zweite Hälfte des Systems der Medusen. Jena: Denkschriften der Medizinisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena.Google Scholar
ICZN (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th edition. London: The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.Google Scholar
ICZN (2012a) Amendment of Articles 8, 9, 10, 21 and 78 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to expand and refine methods of publication. Zootaxa 3450, 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICZN (2012b) Amendment of Articles 8, 9, 10, 21 and 78 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to expand and refine methods of publication. Zookeys 219, 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramp, P.L. (1955) The medusae of the tropical west coast of Africa. Atlantide Report 3, 239324.Google Scholar
Kramp, P.L. (1959) Medusae mainly from the west coast of Africa. Expèdition Océanographique Belge dans les eaux côtières africaines de l'Atlantique sud (1948–1949): résultats scientifiques. Brussels: Institut des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique.Google Scholar
Mariscal, R.N. (1974) Nematocysts. In Muscatine, L. and Lenhoff, H.M. (eds) Coelenterate biology: reviews and new perspectives. New York: Academic Press, pp. 129178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Östman, C. (2000) A guideline to nematocyst nomenclature and classification, and some notes on the systematic value of nematocysts. Scientia Marina 64 (Supplement 1), 3146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryther, J.H. (1963) International Indian Ocean Expedition. AIBS Bulletin 13, 4851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar