Lipkea ruspoliana Vogt, 1887, (Stauromedusa, Scyphozoa, Cnidaria) in the aquariums of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

Abstract

In 1998, about ten specimens of a benthic jellyfish were noticed in several tanks of the Mediterranean zone of the Aquarium of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The first observations show that they seems to be Stauromedusa of the genus Lipkea. In 1886, Carl Vogt described Lipkea ruspoliana from a single sample in poor condition in Sardinia. In 1892, another sample is collected in the same area and described by Antipa as another species, Capria sturdzii. Since their description, the controversy on the classification of these taxa within Stauromedusa has marked every revision. The present note does not provide a solution to this question, but it highlights the originality of this order of Stauromedusa, for which a revision on a worldwide scale would be particularly welcome.