Species Tamoya gargantua Haeckel, 1880

Museums

Regional Maps

• Tamoya gargantua Haeckel, E. 1880. System der Acraspeden. Zweite Halfte des System der Medusen. Jena : G. Fischer. [444].

Distribution

Ecological Descriptors

Marine, pelagic.

Notes

Reported in Australia by: Marsh & Slack Smith 1986; Williamson et al. 1996.

Nomenclature:
The species was reported in Australian waters as T. gargantua, but is more accurately known as T. haeckeli Southcott, 1967.

The nomenclature of this species was partially corrected by Southcott (1967), based on the discussions of Bigelow (1938) and Kramp (1956b, 1961b). To summarize, Lesson (1829) applied the name Beroe gargantua to a form from New Guinea; later this was transferred to the genus Epomis (Lesson, 1836; 1843). Whatever name Lesson's form is known by, it is still unrecognizable due to the inadequate description and confusing figure.

Haeckel was the first to provide a description adequate for recognition to the species that Lesson had used earlier, as Tamoya gargantua from Samoa. However, it is not clear whether Lesson's and Haeckel's specimens actually belonged to the same species.

Mayer (1910) dismissed T. gargantua in a single sentence, regarding it is too imperfectly known to be retained.

Bigelow (1938) was the first to attempt to straighten out the confusion, concluding that the name T. gargantua sensu Haeckel should be retained in the interest of stability. Kramp (1956b) agreed with Bigelow that all Indo-Pacific specimens of Tamoya belong to the same species, which he considered to be T. gargantua Haeckel non Lesson, but later (1961b) considered T. gargantua Haeckel to be possibly identical to the Atlantic T. haplonema.

Finally, Southcott (1967) proposed a new name, T. haeckeli, to replace T. gargantua Haeckel non Lesson, based on the fact that the specific name gargantua was applied by Haeckel in error. However, the above changes apply to the name only, so the form to which it applies, and thus its relationships to other species, remains unclear.

Misidentifications

Tamoya gargantua is occasionally reported from northwest shelf waters of Western Australia. However, these reports actually refer to an undescribed species of Alatina. Tamoya gargantua has not been credibly demonstrated to occur in Australian waters.

General References

Marsh, L. & Slack-Smith, S. 1986. Sea Stingers. Perth, Western Australia : Western Australian Museum.

Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977]

Williamson, J., Fenner, P., Burnett, J. & Rifkin, J. (eds) 1996. Venomous and Poisonous Marine Animals: a medical and biological handbook. Sydney, Australia : NSW University Press 800 pp.

History of changes