title: Turritopsis fascicularis Fraser, 1943 (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa): redescription and discussion of its phylogenetic position within the genus.
abstract: Turritopsis fascicularis Fraser, 1943 was first described off Alligator Reef, Florida, USA, at a depth of 216 m. Presumably a deep-sea species, its validity has often been questioned due to the scarcity of available records. In this paper, T. fascicularis is re-described from some mature colonies from the upper slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, new pictures of the colony, polyps, and medusa buds, are provided. A ~600bp sequence of the large ribosomal subunit of the mitochondrial RNA (lsu-rRNA, 16S), also known as the Hydrozoan barcoding molecule, is used for the first time to confirm the validity of T. fascicularis as a species, and analyze its phylogenetic position within the genus Turritopsis.
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University at Galveston, Department of Marine Biology, Galveston, TX, USA.; Email: miglietm@tamug.edu.
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Miglietta
mesh_terms: D000825:Animal Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D005431:Florida; D037402:Hydrozoa / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D009929:Organ Size; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal