A new pygmy species of box jellyfish (Cubozoa: Chirodropida) from sub-tropical Australia

Brief description

Tropical box jellyfish include some of the worlds most venomous animals, leading researchers and the media to wonder whether changes in climate may drive these species into sub-tropical waters. The discovery, therefore, of small box jellyfish in the waterways of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast of south-east Queensland raised concern. This pygmy species proved to be new to science, separated from other species in the genus Chiropsella by its very small size; its semi-circular phacellae; very shallow, coalesced gastric saccules; its peculiar, long pedalia where the palm is greatly reduced and the nonopposing fingers branch off together at the same level; and a knee-like bend of the pedalial canal. The residential canal/ river habitat of this species of chirodropid raises the question of whether this area is also suitable for habitation by the larger, more virulent chirodropids such as the so-called deadly box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri. This new species, Chiropsella saxoni sp. nov., brings the total number of chirodropid species described from Australian waters to five.