Chrysaora africana

Chrysaora africana, the purple compass jelly, is a species of jellyfish from the family Pelagiidae.[2][3] Found in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean from Gabon to the western coast of South Africa (although uncommon in the far south of its range),[3] its taxonomy has historically caused considerable confusion.[4][5] Like other sea nettles, its sting is painful, but not generally dangerous unless there is an allergic reaction to the venom.[3]

Chrysaora africana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Semaeostomeae
Family: Pelagiidae
Genus: Chrysaora
Species:
C. africana
Binomial name
Chrysaora africana
Synonyms
  • Dactylometra africana Vanhöffen, 1902

Taxonomy

C. africana was first described by Ernst Vanhöffen in 1902. In 1939 it was suggested that it simply represented old individuals of C. fulgida, a view repeated as recently as 2010.[6] C. fulgida itself has frequently been confused with the closely related C. hysoscella.[4][6] Recent studies have been able to separate not only C. hysoscella (now known to be restricted to the northeast Atlantic Ocean), but also the three southeast Atlantic Chrysaora species—C. africana, C. fulgida and an undescribed species tentatively referred to as "C. agulhensis"—based on differences in their morphology and genetics.[3][4][5] The last and still-undescribed species, also known by the common name Cape compass jelly, is widespread along the southern African coast from Namibia to Durban in South Africa.[3] Although a detailed description has been published where a scientific name was proposed,[4] it did not comply with article 8 of the ICZN Code.[7]

References
  1. Vanhöffen, E. (1902). Die Craspedoten Medusen der deutschen Tiefsee Expedition 1898-1899. I. Trachymedusen. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee Expedition. 3: 55-86, pls 1-12.
  2. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Chrysaora africana (Vanhöffen, 1902)". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  3. Lewis, K.; Bowen, D. (6 December 2018). "Why are Cape Town's beaches being covered in jellyfish?". Two Oceans Aquarium. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  4. Ras, Verena (2017), Towards an unravelling of the taxonomy of Chrysaora (Scyphozoa; Semaeostomeae; Pelagiidae) from around South Africa, University of the Western Cape
  5. Gaffney, Patrick M.; Collins, Allen G.; Bayha, Keith M. (2017). "Multigene phylogeny of the scyphozoan jellyfish family Pelagiidae reveals that the common U.S. Atlantic sea nettle comprises two distinct species (Chrysaora quinquecirrha and C. chesapeakei)". PeerJ. 5: e3863. doi:10.7717/peerj.3863. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 5642265. PMID 29043109.
  6. Morandini, André; Marques, Antonio (2010). "Revision of the genus Chrysaora Péron & Lesueur, 1810 (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)". Zootaxa. 2464: 1–97. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2464.1.1.
  7. Ride, W.D.L.; H.G. Cogger; C. Dupuis; O. Kraus; A. Minelli; F.C. Thompson; P.K. Tubbs, eds. (2012). Article 8. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (4th ed.). ISBN 978-0-85301-006-7. Retrieved 15 June 2019.


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