Suborder PTYCHOPHORAE Gershwin & Davie, 2013

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• Gershwin, L. & Davie, P.J.F. 2013. A remarkable new jellyfish (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from coastal Australia, representing a new suborder within the Rhizostomeae. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Nature 56(2): 625–630 [Date published 30 June] [625-630]

Introduction

The discovery of a new species of jellyfish that was so different from all other known forms that it could not be placed into any other known family or suborder is simply remarkable, and is the first time in well over a hundred years that such a discovery has been made in the Medusozoa. The fact that this discovery was made in a well-studied region highlights the fact of how little we still know about the species in the seas around us.

The authors assumed that Bazinga has been hiding in plain sight, but it is equally plausible that this species is introduced from somewhere where it remained unknown. So too, it is possible that it has newly evolved in response to some change in the ecosystem that we have yet to detect, or that it possesses some strange undescribed life cycle feature such that it only blooms in response to certain conditions or timeframes. The point is, we don't actually know. And while Bazinga is a spectacularly beautiful species to ponder these possibilities with, the fact is that we know similarly little about many, many other forms.

The need for research continues to escalate, while scientific funding dwindles, and we ignore this gap at our own peril. It's not just a matter of losing out on the discovery of interesting forms such as Bazinga and the Ptychophorae, it's also a matter of failing to see early warning signs of changes that affect our way of life. The Ptychophorae may be little tiny creatures, but they deliver a big important message.

Diagnosis

Body globular. Oral arms coalesced into a single short, ridged column; without scapulets. Rhopalia hooded, lacking typical pits. Velar lappets 4 per octant; 2 asymmetrical ocular lappets per octant. Annular muscles conspicuous. Subgenital ostia very small, round. Stomach circular, large. Radial canals 4 per octant, proximally unbranched, fluted; peripherally coalesced into vast open sinus with patchwork of jelly matrix.

Diagnosis References

Gershwin, L. & Davie, P.J.F. 2013. A remarkable new jellyfish (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from coastal Australia, representing a new suborder within the Rhizostomeae. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Nature 56(2): 625–630 [Date published 30 June] [626]

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