AnimaliaNot EvaluatedacceptedspeciesAccepted
Laodicea undulata

Laodicea undulata

(Forbes & Godsir, 1853)

GBIF:190510788

0year

ABOUT

Descriptions(6)

16 S Data: A blastn search in GenBank with the four obtained sequences gave always as best match one of the European Laodicea undulate sequences, although the similarities were rather low (92 - 95 %). The haplotypes from Florida showed high divergence values of up to 10.6 % (Table 1), while the three European haplotypes have only 0.5 % bp differences. A maximum likelihood tree separated the sequenced into three distinct lineages (Fig. 28).
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049
Fig 27 A-E
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049
Observations: Laodicea medusae with umbrella up to 10 mm wide, all individuals not fully grown; stomach quadratic, short, with four folded lips. Gonads contiguous with stomach and spreading along proximal half to 2 / 3 (depending on bell size and age) of widened radial canals (= basal stomach pouches or extensions), flat leaf-like, pendant, sinuous. Up to 100 tentacles; small tentacle bulbs that taper gradually into tentacle, bulb usually with an adaxial ocellus, usually one marginal cirrus between successive tentacles; usually one cordylus between successive tentacles.
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049
Remarks: It is arguable if the widened radial canals with the gonads (Fig. 27) should not better be interpreted as basal perradial extensions or pouches of the manubrium. Although the animals of this study were morphologically not separable, some of their 16 S sequences were very divergent, suggesting the presence of cryptic species (Fig. 28). Laodicea undulata has a complex synonymy. It includes also a nominal species of the NE Atlantic, namely Laodicea calcarata L. Agassiz, 1862 (see Agassiz, 1865), but this nominal species is currently not separable from L. undulata (comp. Cornelius, 1995; Schuchert, 2017 a). Mayer (1900) described Laodicea neptuna from Florida. As it has only eight tentacles it cannot be one of the Laodicea observed here. Kramp (1959 a) regarded it as a species inquirenda.
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049
Distribution: Eastern Atlantic and adjacent waters from Iceland and northern Norway to South Africa; western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Tierra del Fuego; Mediterranean (Kramp, 1968). Some occasional records from the Indo-Pacific require a re-evaluation (Schuchert, 2017 a). Type locality: The Minch, Scotland.
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049
Examined material: BFLA 3797; 1 specimen; 13 - OCT- 2018; size 6 mm; preserved in alcohol for DNA extraction; 16 S sequence MW 528645. – BFLA 3806; 1 specimen; 19 - OCT- 2018; preserved in alcohol for DNA extraction; 16 S sequence MW 528646. – BFLA 3812; 1 specimen; 20 - OCT- 2018; size 8 mm; preserved in alcohol for DNA extraction; 16 S sequence MW 528647. – BFLA 3836; 1 specimen; 19 - NOV- 2018; size 6 mm; preserved in alcohol for DNA extraction; 16 S sequence MW 528648. – BFLA 4126; 1 specimen; 06 - JUN- 2019; size 10 mm; has one branched radial canal, thus 5 radial canals in total; preserved in alcohol for DNA extraction; 16 S sequence identical to MW 528648. – 04 - MAR- 2019; 1 specimen photographed, with one radial canal joining another radial canal instead of manubrium, not collected.
Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049

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Fig. 27. Laodicea undulata, all not fully grown. (A-B) BFLA3836, size 6 mm, subadult. (A) Lateral view of whole animal, bell contracted and therefore higher than when relaxed. (B) Aboral view showing bell margin, cirri and cordyli are visible. (C) BFLA3836, size 6 mm. (D) BFLA3812, size 8 mm. (E) BFLA4126, size 10 mm, note the aberrant, branched radial canal.

Imageimage/png© Schuchert, Peter;Collins, RichardSchuchert, Peter;Collins, Richard

Fig. 28. 16S maximum likelihood phylogenetictree of Laodiceidae,Hebellidae,and Orchistomatidae,obtainedwith PhyML (GTR+G+I model) and based on about 600 bp positions of the mitochondrial 16S gene. Node-support values are bootstrap values of 100 pseudoreplicates (shown only if> 70%).All sequence labels start with the GenBank numbers (except for identical haplotypes) permitting the retrieval of more information. Red labels are new sequences from this study.

Imageimage/png© Schuchert, Peter;Collins, RichardSchuchert, Peter;Collins, Richard

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Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream

checklist

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Schuchert, Peter, Collins, Richard (2021): Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (2): 237-356, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0049

Abstract: Hydromedusae were photographed and collected during 75 night-time dives in the Gulfstream off Florida. Most of the collected material was used to obtain DNA extracts and subsequently to determine part of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene, a barcode marker preferentially used for hydrozoans. The morphological data and the 16S barcodes permitted us to identify 46 species and 6 additional species nameable only to the genus level. Photos and descriptions are provided for all of them and the taxonomy and species status discussed. Six new species are described: Pandeopsis prolifera n. spec., Zanclea mayeri n. spec., Corymorpha floridana n. spec., Staurodiscus luteus n. spec., Octophialucium irregularis n. spec., Solmaris flavofinis n. spec. The new family Wuvulidae is proposed for the genus Wuvula Bouillon, Seghers & Boero, 1988. The new name Aequorea neocyanea is introduced for Zygodactyla cyanea L. Agassiz, 1862 to avoid a secondary homonymy with Aequorea cyanea de Blainville, 1834. Zygodactyla cyanea was considered to be a synonym of Aequorea forskalea Péron & Lesueur, 1810 for most of the 20th century, but we present arguments that it should be kept distinct from the latter and it must be transferred to the genus Aequorea. The genus Otoporpa Xu & Zhang, 1978 is regarded here as congeneric with Pegantha Haeckel, 1879 and its type species Otoporpa polystriata Xu & Zhang, 1978 is therefore changed to Pegantha polystriata (Xu & Zhang, 1978) new comb. Dipleurosoma brooksii Mayer, 1910 is recognized as a new synonym of Staurodiscus kellneri (Mayer, 1910); Staurodiscus heterosceles Haeckel, 1879 as a new synonym of Staurodiscus tetrastaurus Haeckel, 1879; Orchistoma agariciforme Keller, 1884 and Tetracannota collapsum Mayer, 1900 both as new synonyms of Orchistoma pileus (Lesson, 1843). The following Indo-Pacific species are newly recorded for the Atlantic Ocean: Pandeopsis ikarii (Uchida, 1927), Aequorea taiwanensis Zheng et al., 2009; Zygocanna apapillatus Xu, Huang & Guo, 2014; Gastroblasta timida Keller, 1883; Cunina becki Bouillon, 1985; and Pegantha polystriata (Xu & Zhang, 1978). The 16S sequences also permitted us to discover several new links with polyp stages, this for Cirrhitiara superba (Mayer, 1900), Euphysilla pyramidata Kramp, 1955, Zancleopsis dichotoma, and Melicertissa mayeri Kramp, 1959. Detailed, high resolution photos of living medusae were found to be very useful for taxonomic purposes and are mostly preferable to preserved, damaged specimens obtained with plankton nets. Photos of living animals also permit us to better document material used to determine 16S barcodes and make the latter useable for taxonomic revisions.

Schuchert P, Collins R, felipe (2021). Hydromedusae observed during night dives in the Gulf Stream. Plazi.org taxonomic treatments database. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.35929/rsz.0049 accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-17.

CC0Published 10/21/2021View dataset
GBIF Usage Key
190510788
Dataset Key
172fa5c5-c0c4-4bd7-b710-d608237b8458
Origin
source
Backbone Key
2267857
Taxon ID
D0118A7C5B27003AFCB5F89BFDB37919.taxon
Last Crawled
6/9/2026
Last Interpreted
6/9/2026