Chrysaora kynthia Gershwin & Zeidler, 2008

Morandini, André C. & Marques, Antonio C., 2010, Revision of the genus Chrysaora Péron & Lesueur, 1810 (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) 2464, Zootaxa 2464, pp. 1-97 : 30

Chrysaora kynthia Gershwin & Zeidler, 2008 [nomen dubium]

( Figures 37 –38, 83)

Chrysaora sp. #1; Gershwin & Collins 2002: 129, 130, 133 (phylogenetic comparison).

Chrysaora kynthia Gershwin & Zeidler 2008: 4–7 (original description), Pl. I (live medusa), Pl. II fig. A (subumbrellar view), fig. B (tentacles), fig. C (rhopalia) [South Mole, Fremantle, Western Australia – Australia].

Holotype specimen. WAM Z9944 (~ 8.6 cm in diameter, 7.ii.2000, South Mole , Fremantle, Western Australia – Australia) [not seen].

Type locality. South Mole, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia.

Distribution. Southwestern Australia (Rockingham to Perth) ( Fig. 83).

Diagnosis (based on Gershwin & Zeidler 2008). Medusae 4.7–11.2 cm in diameter ( Fig. 37); marginal lappets rounded (adults) (Fig. 38), 4 per octant, with canals?; mature specimens with 24 tentacles (3 tentacles per octant), primary tentacle central, 2 secondary tentacles most peripheral (2-1-2), (32 tentacles reported); quadralinga not mentioned; colouration (adults) transparent to translucent; inverted W-shaped gonads.

Systematic remarks. Chrysaora kynthia was recently described ( Gershwin & Zeidler 2008) using the lack of pigmentation and the inverted W shape of gonads as diagnostic characters. The species has 24 tentacles, although the original description mentions that specimens might have more, up to 32. Septa are described as straight and then bent towards the rhopalia (not S-shaped). No mention is made concerning the cnidome of the species, although it is described as a “severe stinger” ( Gershwin & Zeidler 2008: 6).

Regarding diagnostic characters, the lack of pigmentation is a feature to be considered with care. Variation in colour pattern is common among some species of Chrysaora (e.g. C. hysoscella , see Russell 1970, pl. XI; C. lactea , see Morandini et al. 2006a, fig. 6), especially when studying larger series of specimens. The inverted W-shaped gonads can be interpreted as “M-shaped”, which is listed as one of the diagnostic characters of another species also described by the same authors ( C. southcotti , but see here under C. pentastoma ). Additionally, observation of the arrangement of the gonadal tissue within the gastrovascular cavity suggests that the so-called horse-shoe shape might be organized in different ways, including inverted W-shaped or Mshaped gonads, as we observed in different specimens of our large series of C. lactea . Therefore, based on their variability and universality, we consider these characters and their states insufficient basis for this new species. For now, we consider C. kynthia as a nomen dubium still needing to be fully evaluated and described.

Etymology. kynthia : from the Greek, goddess of the moon ( Brown 1956; Gershwin & Zeidler 2008).