ULMARIDAE

OLIVEIRA, OTTO M. P., MIRANDA, THAÍS P., ARAUJO, ENILMA M., AYÓN, PATRICIA, CEDEÑO-POSSO, CRISTINA M., CEPEDA-MERCADO, AMANCAY A., CÓRDOVA, PABLO, CUNHA, AMANDA F., GENZANO, GABRIEL N., HADDAD, MARIA ANGÉLICA, MIANZAN, HERMES W., MIGOTTO, ALVARO E., MIRANDA, LUCÍLIA S., MORANDINI, ANDRÉ C., NAGATA, RENATO M., NASCIMENTO, KARINE B., JÚNIOR, MIODELI NOGUEIRA, PALMA, SERGIO, QUIÑONES, JAVIER, RODRIGUEZ, CAROLINA S., SCARABINO, FABRIZIO, SCHIARITI, AGUSTÍN, STAMPAR, SÉRGIO N., TRONOLONE, VALQUÍRIA B. & MARQUES, ANTONIO C., 2016, Census of Cnidaria (Medusozoa) and Ctenophora from South American marine waters, Zootaxa 4194 (1), pp. 1-256 : 210

FAMILY ULMARIDAE HAECKEL, 1880

Aurelia sp.

Synonyms in the area: Aurelia aurita —Pantin & Dias 1952; Vannucci 1957a; Goy 1979; Mianzan & Cornelius 1999; Neumann-Leitão et al. 2008.

Remarks: historically there were at least 13 species and varieties of the genus Aurelia (Mayer 1910a) . However, none was described for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans surrounding the South America (Kramp 1961). Traditionally specimens from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts were named “ Aurelia aurita ” by different authors. Recent molecular studies suggested distinction between specimens from different parts of the world (Dawson & Jacobs 2001; Schroth et al. 2002), which were morphologically confirmed for some species (Dawson 2003). Until further morphological and molecular studies are conducted with specimens from South America, we provisionally leave the species as undetermined. Valid species with metagenetic life cycle are Aurelia aurita , Aurelia labiata and Aurelia limbata (see Tronolone et al. 2002).

Distribution in South America: polyp—Pacific Ocean, Chilean Fjords (Häussermann et al. 2009); medusa—Pacific Ocean, Peru, at 5.33°S 81.27°W off Sechura Bay (Luis Caccha pers. comm.), Chile, from 53ºS to 55.83ºS n the Patagonian interior waters (Pagès & Orejas 1999; Häussermann et al. 2009; Palma et al. 2014b); Atlantic Ocean, Colombia, at 10.41ºN 75.6ºW in Cartagena Bay (Moncaleano & Niño 1976), Brazil to Argentina, from 0 4ºS to 40.5ºS (Mianzan & Cornelius 1999; Morandini et al. 2005a; Neumann-Leitão et al. 2008; Silveira & Morandini 2011).

Habitat: epipelagic, mostly neritic (Kramp 1961).