Laodicea indica Browne, 1905

Fig. 3

Laodice indica Browne, 1905b: 136, pl. 1 fig. 5, pl. 4 figs 7-11. Laodicea indica . ‒ Mayer, 1910: 202, synonym of L. cruciata . ‒ Kramp, 1953: 268, type specimen, synonymy. – Kramp, 1961: 140. – Kramp, 1968: 66, fig. 172. ‒ Bouillon, 1978a: 152, fig. 9. – Bouillon, 1984: 61, revision, life cycle. ‒ Bouillon, Boero & Fraschetti, 1991: 151, figs 1-3, life cycle.

Laodice fijiana var. indica . ‒ Maas, 1905: 25, pl. 2 figs 14-15, pl. 5 figs 32-35. ‒ Kramp, 1953: 270, is probably L. indica . [not Laodicea fijiana Agassiz & Mayer, 1899]

Laodice maasii Browne, 1907: 466, new name for Laodice fjiana var. indica in Maas, 1905 . ‒ Kramp, 1953: 270, is L. indica .

? Laodice fijiana . ‒ Maas, 1906: 89. ‒ Kramp, 1953: 270.

Material examined: MHNG-INVE-25646; 1 specimen in ethanol, originally fixed in formalin; Seatoun jetty, Miramar Peninsula, Wellington, New Zealand, 41.31855°S 174.8304°E, depth 0-2 m; date collected 22.03.1994. ‒ MHNG-INVE-54671; 5 badly preserved specimens; Bay of Ambon, Moluccas, Indonesia; expedition Bedot & Pictet 1890; material described in Maas (1906).

Diagnosis: Like L. undulata, but Indo-Pacific occurrence, tentacle number in mature specimens lower with 30-200. For polyp stage see Bouillon (1984), identical to L. undulata .

Remarks: There is currently no trait known that would reliably distinguish L. indica from the Atlantic L. undulata . Also the polyps appear identical (Bouillon, 1984; but see Bouillon et al., 1991). Some authors (e.g. Mayer, 1910; Bouillon, 1984) have therefore synonymised the two names, but Kramp (1953, 1961, 1968) continued to regard them as separate. I also refrained from synonymising the two because some preliminary molecular data indicate that the Pacific Laodicea could be rather distinct from the Atlantic ones (10% difference of 16S sequence, unpublished, comp. FJ550471, JQ715946, JQ715947, KY363963).

The medusa from New Zealand had a relatively high number of tentacles (about 200), but which is only slightly higher than the maximal number of 180 given in Kramp (1968).

specimen from New Zealand.

The material identified by Maas (1906) as L. fijiana was re-examined for this study. It is not well preserved, but evidently the radial canals lack the diagnostic outgrowths which are characteristic for Laodicea fijiana (see Agassiz & Mayer, 1899). The tentacle number is about 60 and it is likely L. indica as already suspected by Kramp (1953).

Distribution: Tropical to temperate regions of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean (Kramp, 1968). Type locality: Mutwal Island, West Coast of Ceylon.