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

Sandbox tree (Hura crepitans)

Sandbox tree ( Hura crepitans ) is species in Euphorbiaceae, a tropical tree, growing up to 60 meters tall and with a trunk circumference of up to 13.2 meters, the trunk is covered with long and sharp thorns and exudes a poisonous sap. H. crepitans has large, oval leaves, 15 cm wide and 20 cm long. The petioles are 22 cm long. The flowers are red and lack petals. Male flowers grow on long stalks, while female flowers grow singly in leaf axils. The fruit is a large, flask-shaped capsule, up to 10 cm in diameter, with 12-16 radially arranged carpels. The seeds are flat and about 2 cm in diameter. The capsule bursts when ripe, dividing into segments and ejecting the seeds at a speed of 70 m/s, a distance of 30-100 meters. This tree prefers moist soil and partial shade or partial to full sun, a warm, humid environment. It is often cultivated for shade. The wood is light and used to make canoes. The sap is used to poison fish. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...
Read more

Telotaun (Manihot carthagenensis)

Telotaun ( Manihot carthagenensis ) is a plant species in Euphorbiaceae, trees or shrubs 2-10 m tall, erect and fibrous, white latex, leaves varying with the subspecies noted are Manihot carthagenensis ssp. carthagenensis , Manihot carthagenensis ssp. glaziovii and Manihot carthagenensis ssp. hahnii . M. carthagenensis has an erect stem, a tubular shape, a young stem which is bright green and covered in white wax, an old stem that has a thin layer of brown skin. Long leaf stems and white waxy, arranged alternately, growing in all directions, green on the bottom and redish on the top. Leaves have 3-7 fingers each up to 25 cm long and up to 15 cm wide, ellipses become obovoid, sometimes pandurate and apex acute. Each leaf finger has a bone in the middle that moves linearly with some pinnate bones. The upper surface is green and slightly shiny, the lower surface is whitish green. The base of the leaf is centered at the end of the stalk, the pointed end which ends at the head of the sp...
Read more

Giant green leech (Raksasa hijau)

Lintah raksasa or giant green leech ( Raksasa hijau ) is a species of animal in Salifidae, large green leeches, carnivores, not hematophagic, can grow to lengths of more than 50 cm, the front is perfectly tubular, but it is getting bigger, wider and flat backward. R. hijau has a front end that ends with a white mouth and has a width equal to the diameter of the front end of the body. The rear end ends with the anus and has a width equal to the diameter of the rear end of the body. The upper surface is whole dark green or leafy green, looks shiny and has no other additional color features. The bottom surface is lighter or brownish green. The skin is wrinkled like tight, elastic joints that make it possible to lengthen the body. Giant green leech moves forward by extending the tip of the front of the body to keep the new location farther away and this movement is then followed by the middle body and gradually the rear where the body moves completely. R. hijau does not suck blo...
Read more