Range expansion of two box jellyfish (Cnidaria, Cubozoa) in southern Gulf of Mexico

José María Ahuatzin Hernández,Andrea Del Jesus Couoh-Concha,Lucio Loman-Ramos,Lorena Violeta Leon-Deniz

doi:10.15560/15.3.405

Abstract

We report range extensions of Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Müller, 1859) and Tripedalia cystophora Conant, 1897 to 2 coastal lagoons in the southern Gulf of Mexico. These new records are the first for these species in Yucatán and Mexico.

Highlights

IntroductionThe class Cubozoa (subphylum Medusozoa; Bentlage et al 2009) contains 2 orders, Carybdeida and Chirodropida, which together have 61 valid species (Collins and Jarms 2019)
The class Cubozoa contains 2 orders, Carybdeida and Chirodropida, which together have 61 valid species (Collins and Jarms 2019)
There are 6 species of cubozoans reported for the Gulf of Mexico: Tripedalia cystophora Conant, 1897, Tamoya haplonema Müller, 1859, Alatina alata (Reynaud, 1830) Alatina grandis (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902), Carybdea marsupialis (Linnaeus, 1758), and Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Müller, 1859) (Segura-Puertas et al 2009, Lasley et al 2016)

Summary

Introduction

The class Cubozoa (subphylum Medusozoa; Bentlage et al 2009) contains 2 orders, Carybdeida and Chirodropida, which together have 61 valid species (Collins and Jarms 2019). There are 6 species of cubozoans reported for the Gulf of Mexico: Tripedalia cystophora Conant, 1897, Tamoya haplonema Müller, 1859, Alatina alata (Reynaud, 1830) Alatina grandis (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902), Carybdea marsupialis (Linnaeus, 1758), and Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Müller, 1859) (Segura-Puertas et al 2009, Lasley et al 2016). Their occurrence in coastal lagoons in the south part of the Gulf of Mexico is poorly documented. Of the 3 species recorded for the southwest Gulf, T. haplonema, C. marsupialis, and C. quadrumanus, only the last species has been found in a coastal lagoon (Flores-Galicia and De la Cruz-Francisco 2018)

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