ABSTRACT
The morphological and genetic identification of hydrozoans collected in the reef patches of Santa Marta, Colombia was carried out. This study allows to present two new records of hydroids species for the Colombian Caribbean: Halopteris alternata and Dentitheca dendritica. A total of 11 species and 1 genus were found using morphological and genetic identification with partial sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. The order Leptothecata was the most abundant represented by 9 families: Aglaopheniidae, Clytiidae, Haleciidae, Halopterididae, Kirchenpaueriidae, Plumulariidae, Sertularellidae, Sertulariidae and Thyroscyphidae, while the order Anthoathecata was represented by 2 families: Eudendriidae and Pennariidae. Despite the lack of studies on this group of organisms in the country, the use of the 16S rRNA gene proved to be very useful to provide complementary evidence in our understanding of the biological diversity of hydrozoans in Colombia.
Subject(s)
Hydrozoa , Animals , Caribbean Region , Colombia , RNA, Ribosomal, 16SABSTRACT
Las especies de cubomedusas del Caribe colombiano son aún muy poco conocidas, es por esta razón que se realizaron muestreos exploratorios en la región de Santa Marta, Colombia, durante el periodo comprendido entre febrero y octubre de 2009, para determinar que especies se encuentran en la región. Se colectaron e identificaron un total de cinco ejemplares de cubomedusas pertenecientes a la clase Cubozoa, tres del género Chiropsalmus (familia Chirodropida) y dos del género Alatina (familia Alatinidae), ambos especímenes constituyen el primer registro de cubomedusas para el Caribe colombiano.
Box-jellyfishes of the Colombian Caribbean are still poorly known, it is for this reason that exploratory sampling was done in the region of Santa Marta, Colombia, during the period between February and October 2009, to determine which species are in this region. Were collected and identified a total of five samples of box-jellyfishes to the Cubozoa class, three samples of Chiropsalmus genera (Chirodropida family) and two samples of Alatina (Alatinidae family), both specimens are the first record of boxjellyfishes from the Colombian Caribbean.