Species Catostylus mosaicus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cephea mosaica Quoy, J.R.C. & Gaimard, J.P. 1824. Voyage autour du monde ... executé sur l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant ... 1817-20. Zoologie. Voyage de l'Uranie. M. L. d. Freycinet. Paris 712 pp. + Atlas. [569].

Generic Combinations

• Rhizostoma mosaica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) [see Eschscholtz (1829)].
• Crambessa mosaica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) [see Haeckel (1880)].
• Catostylus mosaicus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824). —
  Agassiz, L. 1862. Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Second monograph. In five parts — Pt. I Acalephs in general. Pt. II Ctenophore. Pt. III. Discophorae. Pt. IV. Hydroidae. Pt. V. Homologies of the Radiata. Boston, London : Little Brown, Trubner Vol. IV i-viii, 380 pp. + (1-10), pls 20-35. [152]

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• von Lendenfeld, R. 1885. Local colour varieties of Scyphomedusae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 9: 925–928 [926]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Catostylus mosaicus has been widely reported from Brisbane, QLD to Melbourne, VIC; it also occasionally extends into the tropics of QLD; Papua New Guinea, Philippines.

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, estuary, marine, neritic, planktonic (host(s): Paramacrochiron maximum Thompson & Scott, 1903 [MACROCHIRONIDAE]).

Associated Fauna References

Browne, J.G. & Kingsford, M.J. 2005. A commensal relationship between the scyphozoan medusae Catostylus mosaicus and the copepod Paramacrochiron maximum. Marine Biology 146(6): 1157-1168 (Paramacrochiron maximum)

Diagnosis

Catostylus with the body 250–350 mm wide; exumbrella with coarse granulations; about 16 lappets in each oaant, all alike; arm-disk somewhat wider than bell radius; moutharms about 1.5 times as long as bell radius, proxima1 portion 1/6 as long as the distal, tapering, three-winged portion; outer edges branch profusely and taper to a pointed end below; no appendages; intracircular network rather narrow, with nearly radial meshes, extracircular network very wide and fine-meshed, extending into the lappets.

Diagnosis References

Kramp, P.L. 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469 [370]

Notes

The species was originally described as a Cephea, then transferred to the genus Rhizostoma by Eschscholtz (1829: 53), then to Catostylus by L. Agassiz (1862: 152). Haeckel (1880: 622) then transferred it to the genus Crambessa, where it was regarded as valid by von Lendenfeld (1884d: 299). Subsequent authors have considered it a Catostylus.

History of changes