A New Species of Box Jellyfish (Cnidaria: Tripedaliidae: Tripedalia) from Hong Kong, China

Yanan Sun, Justin Hon Yin Tsui, Rachel Ting Huen Wong, Ringo Nga Ching Cheung, Murphy Kam Pui Ng, Carmen K.M. Or, Jian Wen Qiu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We describe a box jellyfish, Tripedalia maipoensis sp. nov., based on samples collected from a shrimp pond in Hong Kong. This new species is morphologically distinct from other species of the family Tripedaliidae by the following combination of characters: (1) three pedalia at each bell corner; (2) each pedalium with one tentacle; and (3) velarium with forked canals. Phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated dataset of the 16S18S and 28S rRNA genes show that T. maipoensis sp. nov. is sister to the morphologically similar species T. cystophora, but the two species exhibit 17.4% divergence in the 16S rRNA gene, supporting T. maipoensis sp. nov. as a distinct species. This new species represents the fourth described species of Tripedaliidae, and the first record of the family in Chinese coastal waters.

Original languageEnglish
Article number17
Number of pages7
JournalZoological Studies
Volume62
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Mar 2023

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Animal Science and Zoology

User-Defined Keywords

  • Box jellyfish
  • Hong Kong
  • Morphology
  • Phylogeny
  • Tripedalia

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