Meeting Abstract
79.6 Wednesday, Jan. 6 Naming the Bonaire banded box jelly, the dynamic science side of a public species-naming contest COLLINS, Allen G.*; BENTLAGE, Bastian; GILLAN, William; LYNN, Tara H.; MARQUES, Antonio C.; MORANDINI, Andre C.; National Systematics Lab of NOAA’s Fisheries Service; University of Kansas; Boynton Beach Community High School; Systematics Lab of NOAA’s Fisheries Service; Universidade de São Paulo; Universidade de São Paulo collinsa@si.edu
The public was enlisted in naming a new species to increase understanding of systematics, taxonomy, and the nature of science. A putative new species of Cubozoa, known as the banded box jelly (or BBJ) for its reddish and white banded tentacles, has been photographed or videotaped about 36 times, mostly in the shallow waters of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Examination of the only available specimen indicated that in addition to the banded tentacles, this animal differed from all other known box jelly species in the form of its gastric phacellae. While the public was submitting potential names, a manuscript documenting the unique gastric phacellae and contrasting the cnidome and genetic data of the BBJ with that of Tamoya haplonema from the southeast USA was reviewed. Review revealed that occasional specimens of T. haplonema from Brazil, the species’ type region, had banded tentacles. Nevertheless, the unusual gastric phacellae of the single specimen appeared to justify naming the BBJ in an imminent paper. At the time a candidate name was chosen by the public, a second BBJ specimen was located. This specimen does not have gastric phacellae differing from those of T. haplonema and the manuscript was pulled prior to publication. Genetic and cnidome data from T. haplonema from Brazil became critical for proceeding. Brazilian colleagues joining the scientific team find slight differences (~2% in mt16S, 5% in COI) between the BBJ and T. haplonema from Brazil. Naming the BBJ is not yet warranted. However, Tamoya from the southeast USA is distinct. This species is given a publicly chosen species name, and the public has been shown the dynamic nature of science.
