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A new pygmy species of box jellyfish (Cubozoa: Chirodropida) from sub-tropical Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2015

Lisa-Ann Gershwin  and
Merrick Ekins
Lisa-Ann Gershwin*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, 7000, Tasmania, Australia South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland, 4101, Australia
Merrick Ekins
Affiliation:
Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland, 4101, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L. Gershwin, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart Tasmania, 7000, Australia email: lisa-ann.gershwin@csiro.au
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Abstract

Tropical box jellyfish include some of the world's most venomous animals, leading researchers and the media to wonder whether changes in climate may drive these species into sub-tropical waters. The discovery, therefore, of small box jellyfish in the waterways of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast of south-east Queensland raised concern. This pygmy species proved to be new to science, separated from other species in the genus Chiropsella by its very small size; its semi-circular phacellae; very shallow, coalesced gastric saccules; its peculiar, long pedalia where the ‘palm’ is greatly reduced and the non-opposing ‘fingers’ branch off together at the same level; and a knee-like bend of the pedalial canal. The residential canal/river habitat of this species of chirodropid raises the question of whether this area is also suitable for habitation by the larger, more virulent chirodropids such as the so-called ‘deadly box jellyfish’, Chironex fleckeri. This new species, Chiropsella saxoni sp. nov., brings the total number of chirodropid species described from Australian waters to five.

Keywords

Chiropsella saxoniChiropsalmidaesouth-east Queenslandclimate changeecologytaxonomybiodiversitypublic safety
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 8 , 2015 , e111
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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