Nausithoe Kölliker, 1853: proposals for morphological differentiation of species and relationships of the group (Nausithoidae, Coronatae, Scyphozoa, Cnidaria)

Author(s)

Clarissa Garbi Molinari

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB)
• Defense date: 2019-09-16

Examining board members

André Carrara Morandini; Otto Müller Patrão de Oliveira; Sergio Nascimento Stampar

• Advisor: André Carrara Morandini

Abstract

The order Coronatae Vanhöffen, 1892 is commonly known as a deep-sea jellyfish group, although its diversity also occurs on shallow waters. In general, little is known about most species described for the group due to: the difficulty of sampling the specimens (some are extremely small and others inhabit high depths); old and not very informative morphological descriptions; and the low number of taxonomists working in the order. Among coronate scyphozoans, the genus Nausithoe Kölliker, 1853 (Coronatae, Scyphozoa, Cnidaria) has the largest number of species described. In this dissertation, I bring a morphological review of this genus\' species, adding information for some of them (obtained from specimens coming from four different museums). From these data, we validate twelve species of the genus, suggest some synonymous and question the validity of others. The morphological comparison also allowed us to inquiry some historically used characters to describe/identify these organisms, such as the number of gastric cirri and the central-disc dome shape. In addition, I describe a new species for the group from polyps collected in the state of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 227 m deep. For that meter I annotated information about life cycle, morphology of polyps and medusae, nematocysts types and measures (polyp, euphra and medusa) and ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA sequences. I extended the molecular DNA analysis to other species of the order, proposing, with the inclusion of data available on GeneBank, a phylogenetic relationship among Coronatae families, something never yet performed for the group (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/04954-0 - Description and life cycle of a solitary coronate scyphozoan from deep waters of the southeast coast of Brazil (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Coronatae, Nausithoidae) and comparison with other species
• Grantee: Clarissa Garbi Molinari
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master