Chrysaora caliparea ( Reynaud, 1830 )

Morandini, André C. & Marques, Antonio C., 2010, Revision of the genus Chrysaora Péron & Lesueur, 1810 (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) 2464, Zootaxa 2464, pp. 1-97 : 11-12

Chrysaora caliparea ( Reynaud, 1830) [species inquirenda]

( Figures 9, 72)

Medusa (Cyanea) caliparea Reynaud 1830: 67–68 (original description), Pl. XX (medusa) [ Pondichery – India].

Chrysaorae Reynodii: Brandt 1835: 225 (generic mention to the species of Cyanea described by Reynaud, included in the genus Chrysaora under a new name – though included here, we consider this name without taxonomical and nomenclatural validity).

Cyanea caliparea: Lesson 1843: 384–385 (description).

Stenoptycha caliparea: L. Agassiz 1862: 162 (mention).

Chrysaora calliparea: Haeckel 1880: 516–517 (description) [ India; Tanzania]. von Lendenfeld 1884: 270 (description) [Indian Ocean]. Vanhöffen 1888: 23 (brief description), 48 (distribution). Mayer 1910: 580 (synoptic table).

Chrysaora helvola var. calliparea Mayer 1910: 582 (mention) [non Chrysaora helvola Brandt, 1838 ].

Chrysaora callipara: Vannucci 1954: 125 (commented that C. callipara is identical to C. helvola ).

? Dactylometra quinquicirrha: Menon 1930: 7–8 (description), Pl. I figs 6a–c (medusa) [Madras – India]. Nair 1946: 97 (mention) [non Chrysaora quinquecirrha ( Desor, 1848) ].

? Chrysaora helvola: Rao 1931: 30–31 (description, D. quinquecirrha of Light 1914 from Philippines probably = C. helvola ) [Bay of Bengal – India]. Vannucci 1954: 125 (commented that C. helvola is identical to C. callipara and to C. chinensis ) [non Chrysaora helvola Brandt, 1838 ].

? Chrysaora melanaster: Rao 1931: 31–32 (description) [Bay of Bengal] [non Chrysaora melanaster Brandt, 1835 ]

? Dactylometra quinquecirrha: Gravely 1941: 12 (brief description), 95 (mention), 111 (index) [ India].

? Chrysaora quinquecirrha: Kramp 1955: 297–300 (commented that D. africana is identical to D. quinquecirrha ), 305 (ephyrae), 309 (mention), 314 (tab. III), 317 (mention) [ Angola; Nigeria]. Kramp 1958: 372 (brief description) [ India]. Kramp, 1959: 23 (list of examined material, distribution) [ Angola]. Kramp 1968: 83 (description) [ Angola, Australia, and Indonesia] (specimens from Indonesia probably Chrysaora chinensis ; specimens from Australia unidentifiable). Cornelius 1997: 122 (brief description), fig. (medusa) [Indian and Pacific Oceans] (part of the specimens might be identified as C. chinensis ).

? Dactylometra quinquicirrha: Masilamoni et al. 2000: 567 (mention, cuase of power plant shutdown) [Madras, India].

Holotype specimen. Not available.

Examined material. None.

Type locality. Pondichery – India.

Distribution. Indian Ocean (east coast of Africa, south coast of India) ( Fig. 72).

Diagnosis. Medusa large (~ 40 cm in diameter); marginal lappets rounded, up to 4 per octant; tentacles 24 (3 per octant, 2-1-2) (maybe 40 tentacles, 5 per octant); quadralinga not known; colouration (adults) exumbrella yellowish with radiating stripes, brownish margin.

Description. After Reynaud (1830) and Haeckel (1880). Medusa: Umbrella diameter up to 40 cm, slightly hemispherical ( Fig. 9). Exumbrellar surface finely granulated; yellowish with dark stripes radiating from centre, brown margin. Mesoglea flexible, prone to breakage? Marginal lappets rounded, 4 per octant, rhopalar lappets wider than velar ones. Rhopalia 8, in deep clefts; deep exumbrellar sensory pit. Tentacles 24, 3 per octant (2-1-2) (although one of the original images show 32 “marginal structures”, we considered that 8 of them are rhopalia and the remaining 24 are tentacles). Musculature not mentioned. Brachial disc with four evident corners. Pillars evident. Quadralinga not known. Subgenital ostia not mentioned. Oral arms 6–7 times longer than umbrellar diameter (~2,75 m long), V-shaped, delicate and convoluted edges. Central stomach circular, marginal region limited by insertion of radial septa. Stomach pouches 16, width uniform centrally; tentacular pouches enlarged distally (2 times larger). Septa not described. Gastric filaments in four interradial fields. Gonads outlining gastric filaments yellowish.

Systematic remarks. This species was described by Reynaud (1830) from specimens observed in India ( Pondichery). The original description was poorly detailed and insufficient to characterize the species in question, even though no other species have been described from the same area. Haeckel (1880) gave a more detailed description of specimens from Tanzania ( Zanzibar). Unfortunately none of the authors deposited any materials in museums, and we were unable to obtain specimens from the area. Do the specimens of Reynaud and Haeckel belong to the same species? Those described by Haeckel (1880) ranged from 16–20 cm in bell diameter while the one studied by Reynaud (1830) measured 40 cm; moreover, although the collecting sites occur in the same ocean basin, the localities are quite far apart (~ 5,000 km). Confusion also exists in the literature about tentacle numbers (see below). We take a conservative approach and consider them to be the same species, Chrysaora caliparea ( Reynaud, 1830) , although it remains a species inquirenda until specimens from the region can be properly studied. Records in the literature of animals from that area ( Menon 1930; Rao 1931; Gravely 1941; Cornelius 1997) were identified as C. quinquecirrha probably due to the presence of 5 tentacles per octant; this fact would demand an amendment of the diagnosis of the species.