Octophialucium haeckeli ( Vannucci & Moreira, 1966 )

Júnior, Miodeli Nogueira, 2012, Gelatinous zooplankton fauna (Cnidaria, Ctenophora and Thaliacea) from Baía da Babitonga (southern Brazil), Zootaxa 3398, pp. 1-21 : 14

Octophialucium haeckeli ( Vannucci & Moreira, 1966)

(Fig. 35–36)

Material examined. 10/18/2007 —four medusae ( MZUSP 1620, 1632); 11/16/2007 —one medusa; 05/26/ 2008 —one medusa ( MZUSP 1621).

Remarks. The six examined medusae perfectly agree with the description given by Vannucci & Moreira (1966) without necessity of further description. It differs from the other 10 species of the genus ( Schuchert 2009a) by the presence of four lips, eight bulbs (only four of them with tentacles), eight statocysts and no rudimentary bulbs or marginal warts. One out of the six studied individuals had 7 lips instead of four (Fig. 35; MZUSP 1632). This variation may generate some doubts, since the number of lips is one of the diagnostic characters of this species ( Vannucci & Moreira 1966; Bouillon 1999), however this specimen was considered abnormal given that all other characters remained the same.

Distribution. Endemic from the Brazilian coast. This is the first record since its original description from São Paulo ( Vannucci & Moreira 1966), extending its known distribution ~ 250 km southwards.