A Case Study with the Monospecific Genus Aegina
MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2016.1268261 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The perils of online biogeographic databases: a case study with the ‘monospecific’ genus Aegina (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Narcomedusae) Dhugal John Lindsaya,b, Mary Matilda Grossmannc, Bastian Bentlaged,e, Allen Gilbert Collinsd, Ryo Minemizuf, Russell Ross Hopcroftg, Hiroshi Miyakeb, Mitsuko Hidaka-Umetsua,b and Jun Nishikawah aEnvironmental Impact Assessment Research Group, Research and Development Center for Submarine Resources, Japan Agency for Marine- Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan; bLaboratory of Aquatic Ecology, School of Marine Bioscience, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Japan; cMarine Biophysics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Onna, Japan; dDepartment of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA; eMarine Laboratory, University of Guam, Mangilao, USA; fRyo Minemizu Photo Office, Shimizu, Japan; gInstitute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA; hDepartment of Marine Biology, Tokai University, Shizuoka, Japan ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Online biogeographic databases are increasingly being used as data sources for scientific papers Received 23 May 2016 and reports, for example, to characterize global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity and Accepted 28 November 2016 to identify areas of ecological significance in the open oceans and deep seas. However, the utility RESPONSIBLE EDITOR of such databases is entirely dependent on the quality of the data they contain. We present a case Stefania Puce study that evaluated online biogeographic information available for a hydrozoan narcomedusan jellyfish, Aegina citrea. This medusa is considered one of the easiest to identify because it is one of KEYWORDS very few species with only four large tentacles protruding from midway up the exumbrella and it Biogeography databases; is the only recognized species in its genus.
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