Vallicula multiformis Rankin, 1956, from Brazil

Abstract

A Ctenophore preliminarily classified as a Coeloplana was founel in Florielan waters (Smith 1945), but it was not elescribed. Some years later (1951) Rankin announced the discovery of a Platyctenid Ctenophore which she described (1956) as the type of the new genus Vallicula, intermediate between Coeloplana Kowalevsky, 1880, anel Lyrocteis Komai, 1941 (see iel. 1942). Among the more than a dozen species of Coeloplana C. sophiae Dawydoff (1938, p. 146) from the coast of Annam has oral grooves extending from the mouth to the openings of the tentacle sheaths as Vallicula 1nultifonnis Rankin. On the coast of São Paulo, at Ilhabela, formerly Villa Bella, Lat. 23°49' S. Long. 45°27' VV. anel about 60 km farther east, near Ubatuba, my husbanel and I found a total of six specimens of T'all-icula mult-ifonnis in September 1951 and 1956, and March 1957. This occurrence is by no means surprising, because the fauna of our upper littoral shows intimate relations with that of the West Indies in many Classes (Ekman 1935, p. 73).

Chave de identificação dos Ctenophora da costa brasileira

“…Para o presente estudo, foram consideradas as 12 espécies planctônicas registradas para a plataforma continental brasileira (Mianzan 1999) e uma espécie bentônica registrada para o litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo (Marcus 1957, Oliveira & Migotto 2007. Dentre as espécies planctônicas, cinco foram posteriormente registradas para o litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo (Oliveira & Migotto 2006) e seis foram coletadas em áreas oceânicas nas regiões Norte e Nordeste do Brasil (Harbison et al 1978).…”

“…Dentre as cerca de 120 espécies conhecidas atualmente (Mills 1998(Mills -2007, treze (vide tabela 1) foram reportadas em águas brasileiras (Marcus 1957, Mianzan 1999, Oliveira & Migotto 2006. As difi culdades inerentes aos processos de coleta, preservação e O presente estudo tem por objetivo apresentar características que facilitem a identifi cação das espécies encontradas na costa brasileira, permitindo que estudantes e pesquisadores não familiarizados com o grupo possam fazer identifi cações confi áveis.…”

A platyctenean ctenophore from New Zealand

“…natalensis Pople from Natal (lat. 29°S) (Pople 1960), Vallicula multijormis Rankin from Brazil (23°S) (Marcus 1958) and Coeloplana astericola Mortensen from Great Barrier Reef (10-21°S) (Stephenson 1931, from Dawydoff 1955. Coeloplana willeyi is found in Japan and Hawaii and its presence in New Zealand indicates that other platycteneans may occur in New Zealand waters.…”

Vallicula multiformis Rankin, 1956 (Ctenophora, Platyctenida): first record from the Indian Ocean

“…Vallicula multiformis Rankin, 1956 (family Coeloplanidae) is an exception. The species was originally described from Jamaica (Rankin 1951) and then was recorded from Brazil (Marcus 1957;, Bermuda (Freeman 1967), Madeira (Wirtz 1998), California USA (Mills and Haddock 2007), the Canary Islands and Cuba (Moro et al 2011). Mills andHaddock (2007) also cited an occurrence of the species from Hawaii (USA), but the presence of V. multiformis in Hawaii was only formally reported by Carlton and Eldredge (2009) and was considered as non-indigenous to Hawaiian waters.…”

“…and Sargassum spp. ;Rankin 1956;Marcus 1957;Wirtz 1998), byrozoans (Bugula spp. ;Marcus 1957), hydroids (Rankin 1956;Marcus 1957), holothurians (Rankin 1956) including Synaptula spp.…”