Census of the Medusozoa, Ceriantharia and Ctenophora from South America

OLIVEIRA, O. M. P.; ARAUJO, E. M.; AYON, P.; CEPEDA, A. A.; GALEA, H.; GENZANO, G.; HADDAD, M. A.; MIANZAN H. W.; MIGOTTO, A. E.; MIRANDA, T. P.; MONTECINOS, P. C.; MORANDINI, A. C.; NAGATA, R. M.; NOGUEIRA JR., M.; QUIÑONES, J. A. D.; PALMA, S.; RODRIGUEZ, C.; STAMPAR, S. N.; SCHIARITI, A.; TRONOLONE, V.; MARQUES, A. C.

Mar del Plata

Simposio; Third International Jellyfish Blooms Symposium; 2010

The South American fauna of ctenophores, cerianthids, jellyfishes, hydroids and their allies have been studied punctually by several research groups and isolated researchers from the coastal countries. This is the first time these researchers join together to work on a realistic census of the Medusozoa, Ceriantharia and Ctenophora species from all the wide marine area of South America, including the coast lines and the marine areas of each country. The aims of this census are to standardize the nomenclature, to better understand the distribution patterns of the species in a long scale range and also to detect biological questions that can potentially be solved if studied by two or more groups of researchers from different countries. For this data compilation, all information available, including gray literature, were consulted. New data were also included by each research group. After all, we registered a total of 679 species of Medusozoa, fifteen Ceriantharia and nineteen Ctenophora. In general, South American fauna represents about 18% of the world fauna of medusozoans, 15% of the cerianthids and 16% of the ctenophores. Siphonophores are the best represented group, with the occurrence of about 60% of the world diversity in South American waters. We found some gaps in the faunistic knowledge of the region, especially in areas without a research tradition on these biological groups. Our census provides an important background for future faunistic works and also feeds a database for a long scale endemicity analysis, to be performed in the future.