Skip to main content

Integrative taxonomy reveals presence a new species West African mane jelly (Cyanea altafissura)

Integrative taxonomy reveals presence a new species West African mane jelly (Cyanea altafissura)

NEWS - A new species of Cyanea is described from samples collected in the Gulf of Guinea during 2017-2019. The species is a member of the nozakii group that has discontinuous radial septa and is characterized by, among other things, deeper rhopalial than velar marginal clefts, uniform papillose exumbrella, up to 200 tentacles per cluster and a dense network of anastomosing canals in a broad quadrate fold.

West African mane jelly (Cyanea altafissura) can be genetically distinguished from relatives in the ITS1 and COI regions as confirmed by several phylogenies and other analyses. This is the first record of a member of the nozakii group in the Atlantic Ocean and the first description of a genus Cyanea from the west coast of Africa and the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

Cyanea Péron & Lesueur (1810) currently includes 17 species and is the second largest number of valid and recognized species in the Semaeostomeae of Agassiz (1862), after Aurelia Lamarck (1816). Both genera are rarely reported from the South and East Atlantic, although they are widespread in coastal waters of the Northern Hemisphere and in the Indo-Pacific.

Both genera have been the subject of taxonomic confusion with their respective type species, Cyanea capillata (Linnaeus, 1758) and Aurelia aurita (Linnaeus, 1758). It is practically impossible to draw distinctions between the various forms of Cyanea in the North Atlantic. Intergradational forms are common and many races are separated only geographically or by differences in coloration that are not entirely distinct and stable.

The only Cyanea species formally described from coastal waters of West Africa is Cyanea annasethe (Haeckel 1880) which was originally described as Desmonema annasethe Haeckel (1880) from specimens collected off the west coast of South Africa by Wilhelm Bleek in 1877.

Yusra Samsodien, Michael Brown and Mark Gibbons from the University of the Western Cape in Bellville collected specimens of the new species in this study at depths of 20-118 metres. The name altafissura refers to the relatively deep depth of the rhopalial fissure.

Analysis of the COI data revealed three monophyletic lineages supporting the separation of all known Cyanea species and C. altafissura. This divergence is consistent with the species divergence of many other Scyphozoa. The analysis places the West African species as the sister group to C. nozakii.

In contrast, analysis of the ITS1 data revealed two monophyletic lineages placing C. altafissura in its own lineage with C. capillata, C. rosea, C. tzetlinii and C. nozakii forming a monophyletic clade. In particular, the mitochondrial DNA sequence data showed less variation between the West African species and C. nozakii with both forming a monophyletic clade.

However, the nuclear DNA sequence data showed greater variation between C. altafissura and C. nozakii with C. altafissura as its own monophyletic group, sister to all other Cyanea species. This is partly because the pairwise genetic distance between West African Cyanea and other Cyanea species is higher for nuDNA (ITS1) than for mtDNA (COI).

Original research

Yusra Samsodien, Michael K. Brown and Mark J. Gibbons (2024). Integrative taxonomy reveals the presence of a new species of Cyanea (Scyphozoa: Discomedusae: Semaeostomeae: Cyaneidae) from the West coast of Africa. Zootaxa 5507 (3): 401-426, DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5507.3.1

Dlium theDlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...
Read more

Pohpohan (Pilea melastomoides)

Pohpohan clearweed ( Pilea melastomoides ) is a species of plant in the Urticaceae, herbaceous perennial, erect stems, up to 100 cm tall, succulent, square or cylindrical, enlarged in the middle of the internodes, bright green in color and forming colonies in the shade. P. melastomoides has stipules that are immediately deciduous or subpersistent, green or brownish and oblong. The stalk is 2-9 cm long. The leaf blade is ovate or ovate-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate. The surface is wavy, pale green on the underside, dark green on the top. The three main veins are central and linear. Rounded base, tapered ends and serrated edges. The inflorescences are paired, the male is a dense cyme paniculata. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Urticaceae Genus: Pilea Species: Pilea melastomoides
Read more

Blue pansy (Junonia orithya)

Blue pansy ( Junonia orithya ) is an animal species in Nymphalidae, butterflies with at least 23 subspecies, have a variety of hues and colors including blue, black, brown and white, sex dimorphism, live in open areas and agricultural land, larvae grow at the end dry season or early rainy season. J. orithya has a black body with thick hair, a brown head, large white eyes, a pair of long white antennae with a hammer tip and white legs. Males have top front wings are dominated by black and whitish brown. Each side has two circles in brown, black and blue. Three stripes are brown and white. The hind wing is predominantly blue. Each side has two circles in brown, black, white and blue. The margins are bordered by white ribbons with black stripes. The rear wing is predominantly blue. Each side has two circles in brown, black, white and blue. Three stripes are brown and white. The margins are bordered by white ribbons with black stripes. The underside of the forewings is dominated by brow...
Read more