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Discovery of Cladonema multiramosum sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Cladonematidae) using DNA barcoding and life cycle analyses

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Abstract

In contrast to typical planktonic hydromedusae, Cladonema medusae are mostly benthic, with specialised adhesive branches to adhere to the substrate. In this study, a Cladonema species discovered in a laboratory aquarium in Fuzhou, China, was confirmed as a new species, based on morphological and molecular analyses. The species was named Cladonema multiramosum sp. nov. Its medusa is distinct from that of congeners possessing substantially more adhesive branches (8–24, rarely 5–7), and tiny branches on the upper radial canals. The validity of C. multiramosumum sp. nov. was also supported by molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequence. However, C. multiramosum sp. nov. medusa also displayed considerable phenotypic plasticity with respect to its radial canals, tentacles, stinging branches per tentacle, oral tentacles, manubrium, and gonads, hindering species identification based solely on morphology. Although some morphological characteristics of hydroids (filiform tentacles and medusa buds) and nematocysts could also be used as diagnostic characters in the genus Cladonema, this information is unavailable for some Cladonema species. Thus, the taxonomy within the genus Cladonema was re-evaluated based mainly on the morphological characteristics of the medusa. Further revision of the genus Cladonema should be made when supplementary information on the life cycle and DNA barcoding are updated.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ruiting Li for her assistance in the culture of C. multiramosum. We thank editors and reviewers for their comments and suggestions on this manuscript. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Funding

The Fund of China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association under contract No. DY135-B2-13; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41806181; the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China under contract No. 2021J011042; the Program for Innovative Research Team in Science & Technology in Fujian Province University; the Talent Introduction Pre-research Project of Minjiang University under contract No. MJY20017.

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  1. Institute of Oceanography, College of Geography and Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Konglin Zhou, Yuping Gu, Lu Wang & Jianming Chen

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  1. Konglin Zhou
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Correspondence to Konglin Zhou or Jianming Chen.

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Zhou, K., Gu, Y., Wang, L. et al. Discovery of Cladonema multiramosum sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Cladonematidae) using DNA barcoding and life cycle analyses. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 41, 44–52 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1900-5

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