A new macromedusa from the coast of Mozambique: Aurelia mozambica sp. nov. (Scyphozoa: Ulmaridae)

Abstract

A new species of the cosmopolitan jellyfish genus Aurelia is described from the coastal waters of Mozambique using a combination of morphological, meristic and genetic information (COI and 18S). The species can be separated from congeners that have been recently described by a combination of bell shape, number of canal origins and anastomoses, and the shape of the manubrium and oral arms. Three types of nematocysts are present in the tissues of both the bell margin and oral arms, and this description of the cnidome will allow for future comparison. Pairwise genetic comparisons showed a mean COI divergence of 4.8% within the group, and a mean divergence ranging between 15% and 22% with all other species of Aurelia.

Reconstructing the Biogeographic History of the Genus Aurelia Lamarck, 1816 (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), and Reassessing the Nonindigenous Status of A. solida and A. coerulea in the Mediterranean Sea

“…Given the recent resurrection and new species description within the genus Aurelia [1,[11][12][13][14] and the absence of taxonomic diagnosis characters [1], the biogeography of the species should be restricted to the locations where genetic determinations were made. In this section, we implemented a modified version of the PRISMA method [33] to systematically review the locations with available genetic data on Aurelia.…”

“…The African records of the genus Aurelia include Sintra Bay (Western Sahara) [56], Mozambique [12], the coastline of the Gulf of Guinea [55], and, from the biogeographic databases GBIF and OBIS, we can assume the Canary Islands (Spain) and Madagascar. On the other side, the absence of the genus has been reported in the coastal waters close to the upwelling of the Benguela current [55,57].…”

“…However, the genetic variability found in the phylogenetic analysis carried out by Dawson and Martin [9] indicated that A. aurita is part of a taxonomic complex including various species. Identifying different species based on diagnostic characters is challenging [1,10,11], but the combination of taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses has increased the number of species up to 30 in 2023 through name resurrections and new descriptions [1,[11][12][13][14].…”

DNA Barcoding of Moon Jellyfish (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Ulmaridae, Aurelia): Two Cryptic Species from the Azores (NE Atlantic, Macaronesia), and Evaluation of the Non-Indigenous Species (NIS)

“…Mayer (1910) [1] then reasonably well-defined types". Later Kramp (1961) [31] recogniz the end of the 20th century, only two species were generally increase in genetic studies in the 21st century started to unveil Aurelia species (e.g., [21,22]), and species revalidations and [24,29,35,36]. Notably, Lawley et al [29] recently demonstrated th inoperability of classic morphologic characters to differentia species of Aurelia (something partially verified before by Chiave et al [24], and Chiaverano & Graham [38]), and consequently val diagnosed with nucleotide differences in COI and 16S "DNA barc likely to induce other researchers to describe cryptic species nucleotide characters, incrementing formal species recognitions, subsequent scientific studies involving those cryptic taxa (e.g., in and ecological, evolution, and biotechnology studies).…”

“…Later Kramp (1961) [31] recognized seven species, but by the end of the 20th century, only two species were generally accepted [5,[32][33][34]. The increase in genetic studies in the 21st century started to unveil the cryptic diversity of Aurelia species (e.g., [21,22]), and species revalidations and redescriptions occurred [24,29,35,36]. Notably, Lawley et al [29] recently demonstrated the extent of plasticity and inoperability of classic morphologic characters to differentiate molecularly defined species of Aurelia (something partially verified before by Chiaverano et al [37], Scorrano et al [24], and Chiaverano & Graham [38]), and consequently validated 14 Aurelia species diagnosed with nucleotide differences in COI and 16S "DNA barcodes".…”