ON MEDUSA-BUDDING IN THE ANTHOMEDUSA, PODOCORYNE MINIMA (TRINCI)

Abstract

In 1928 Kramp described a new hydromedusa from Japan under the name of Podocoryne simplex and later Uchida (1930, 1938, 1947 and 1964) recorded the same medusa from several localities of the Pacific. While studying a lot of specimens of this medusa, however, the writers came to the conclusion that Podocoryne simplex is nothing but a synonym of Podocoryne minima (Trinci, 1903) as was pointed out already by Russell (1954). Podocoryne minima is widely distributed along the coasts of Japan but the materials here dealt with were mostly collected at Misaki, Kanagawa Prefecture from 1971 to 1976. In addition, some specimens from Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture were also examined. As little has been reported on medusa-budding in this species, the details of the observation made by the writers will be given in the present paper.