University of São Paulo: New species of jellyfish is named in honor of USP’s Center for Marine Biology

A study that brought together researchers from Brazil, Argentina and the United States described ten new species of jellyfish of the genus Aurelia, which previously had only seven species formally recognized. One of the new species was named Aurelia cebimarensis , in honor of the Center for Marine Biology (Cebimar) at USP, where the sample was collected.
Through genetic analysis of samples provided by 11 different institutions in Brazil, the USA and Denmark, the researchers were able to identify 28 possible species. Seven of them ( A. marginalis , A. solida , A. labiata , A. relicta , A. aurita , A. coerulea and A. limbata ) were already recognized by the scientific community. In addition, four ( Aurelia clausa , Aurelia dubia , Aurelia persea and Aurelia hyalina ) had already been described and later invalidated and have now been re-evaluated.

Another ten formally described and named for the first time: Aurelia ayla , Aurelia insularia , Aurelia miyakei , Aurelia mianzani , Aurelia rare , Aurelia montyi , Aurelia smithsoniana , Aurelia malayensis , Aurelia columbia and Aurelia cebimarensis . The remaining seven remain without description, for now.