Liriope tetraphylla Chamisso & Eysenhardt

Liriope tetraphylla (Chamisso & Eysenhardt)

(Fig. 34–35)

References consulted. Russell 1953: 419–429, figs 275–282. Kramp 1955: 275–276. Vannucci 1957: 70–73. Kramp 1961: 238. Goy 1979: 284. Pagès et al. 1992: 43, fig. 52. Bouillon 1999: 435, fig. 3.162. Tronolone 2001: 130–134, figs 32 A– F. Tronolone 2007: 69–70, figs 230–231.

Material. Municipality of Pontal do Paraná, Balneário de Praia de Leste (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 01/12/ 1997 — 164 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 01/12/1997 — 157 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 01/ 12/1997 — 36 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W); 01/12/1997 — 86 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 22/ 12/1997 — 124 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 22/12/1997 — 206 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 22/12/1997 — 54 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 22/12/1997 — 79 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 23/01/1998 — 12 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 23/01/1998 — 33 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 23/01/1998 — 53 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 23/01/1998 — 174 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 23/01/1998 — 102 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 20/02/1998 — 36 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 20/02/1998 — 63 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 20/02/1998 — 593 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 20/02/1998 — 570 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 20/02/1998 — 90 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 31/03/1998 — 6 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 31/03/1998 — 6 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 31/03/1998 — 4 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 22/04/1998 — 30 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 22/04/1998 30 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 22/04/1998 — 1 specimen; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 22/04/1998 —specimen; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 27/05/1998 — 27 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 27/05/1998 — 19 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 27/05/1998 — 2 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 24/06/1998 — 21 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 24/06/1998 — 7 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 24/06/1998 — 8 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 16/07/1998 — 29 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 16/07/1998 — 25 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 16/07/1998 — 17 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 16/07/1998 — 10 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 20/08/1998 — 585 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 20/08/1998 — 922 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 20/08/1998 — 154 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 20/08/1998 — 14 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 20/08/1998 — 3 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 02/10/1998 — 84 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 02/10/1998 — 234 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 02/10/1998 — 60 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 28/10/1998 — 10 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 28/10/1998 — 207 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 28/10/1998 — 101 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 28/10/1998 — 79 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 28/10/ 1998 — 36 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 25/11/1998 — 35 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 21/12/ 1998 — 7 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 21/12/1998 — 6 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 22/01/ 1999 — 38 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 22/01/1999 — 20 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 22/01/ 1999 — 30 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 24/02/1999 — 2 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 24/02/ 1999 — 3 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 24/02/1999 — 3 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 24/02/ 1999 — 23 specimens; (25º42’65”S – 48º27’85”W): 24/03/1999 — 2 specimens; (25º44’15”S – 48º21’60”W): 24/03/ 1999 — 9 specimens; (25º46’32”S – 48º12’15”W): 24/03/1999 — 72 specimens; (25º48’10”S – 48º04’90”W): 24/03/ 1999 — 3 specimens; (25º50’25”S – 47º55’80”W): 24/03/1999 — 11 specimens.

Reference specimens deposited. MZUSP 1520, 34 specimens, MZUP 1518, 33 specimens, MZUSP 1495, 4 specimens. Dzoo-Cn 252, 8 specimens.

World distribution. In the three great oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, in greater abundance within the 20 °C isotherm (Thiel 1936, p. 52, fig. 10 cited in Russell 1953), and absent in the polar regions (Russell 1953).

Distribution in Brazil. Along the entire coast, being abundant near and whithin estuaries (Vannucci 1957; Goy 1979; Navas-Pereira 1980; Montú & Cordeiro 1988; Tronolone 2007; Neumann-Leitão et al. 2008; Nogueira 2011, 2012).

Description. Umbrella hemispherical, 0.25–17.5 mm in diameter, thin mesoglea with apical thickening. Small stomach, gastric peduncle of variable length, depending on the degree of ontogenetic development. In mature individuals, peduncle can reach 1–3 times the umbrellar height (Fig. 34). Mouth with 4 simple or slightly crenulated lips. 4 flattened, circular to leaf-shaped gonads on the radial canals, covering almost the entire subumbrellar surface (Fig. 34). 4 long and hollow perradial marginal tentacles, with nematocyst rings. 4 short solid interradial marginal tentacles, with adaxial batteries of nematocysts, which may be lost as the medusa grows. 8 statocysts at the base of the tentacles, with concretions. Young medusae (<2 mm) without peduncle, and with only interradial tentacles (Fig. 35).

Systematic remarks. Other species have been described for the genus; however, it is currently considered monospecific (Schuchert 2013). Collins et al. (2008) suggested the existence of cryptic species based on significant divergences in mitochondrial 16S and nuclear SSU sequence data. The species is easily recognized in all its stages of development due to the general shape, type and arrangement of tentacles, manubrium and peduncle shape, and long gastric peduncle in adults. Its morphology can be highly variable with respect to the shape of the gonads (Russell 1953), number of radial (Zamponi & Genzano 1989a, b) and centripetal canals (Pagès et al. 1992), and size (Bouillon 1999).

Biological data. In some regions the species occurs in oceanic waters, as in the Benguela Current (Buecher & Gibbons 2001), Humboldt Current, Chile (Kramp 1966; Palma et al. 2007) and off the California coast, USA (Suárez-Morales et al. 2002). However, in the Western Atlantic it is generally considered a euryhaline-coastal species (Larson 1982; Suárez-Morales et al. 1999; Tronolone 2007; Mianzan et al. 2000). In most studies of planktonic cnidarians in the western tropical and subtropical Atlantic, the species is dominant in coastal waters, and may occur in almost 100% of the samples (Vannucci 1963; Larson 1982; Suárez-Morales et al. 1999, 2002; Tronolone 2007; present study). In Brazil, densities up to 1000 org.m -3 were recorded off estuarine regions of Paranaguá (Paraná) and São Francisco do Sul (Santa Catarina) (Tronolone 2007). On beaches of southern Uruguay and northern Argentina, aggregations reaching densities of 4.7 * 10 6 org.m -3 cause skin irritations in bathers (Mianzan et al. 2000). Its diet has not been studied in detail, but the species may be an important predator at different trophic levels, given the great diversity of planktonic organisms found within the manubrium, such as herbivorous crustaceans, chaetognaths, and fish eggs and larvae (Larson 1982).