Medusozoa is a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature ...

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that ...

, and is often considered a subphylum. It includes the classes

Hydrozoa Hydrozoa (hydrozoans; ) are a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline water. The colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specialize ...

Scyphozoa The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish (or "true jellies"). The class name Scyphozoa comes from the Greek word ''skyphos'' (), denoting a kind of drinking cup and alluding to the ...

, Staurozoa and Cubozoa, and possibly the parasitic Polypodiozoa. Medusozoans are distinguished by having a medusa stage in their often complex life cycle, a medusa typically being an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles around the edge. With the exception of some Hydrozoa (and Polypodiozoa), all are called

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbre ...

in their free-swimming

medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

phase.

Evolution

The phylum

is widely accepted as being

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

and consisting of two clades,

Anthozoa Anthozoa is a subphylum of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of ...

and Medusozoa. Anthozoa includes the classes

Hexacorallia Hexacorallia is a class of Anthozoa comprising approximately 4,300 species of aquatic organisms formed of polyps, generally with 6-fold symmetry. It includes all of the stony corals, most of which are colonial and reef-forming, as well as al ...

, the hard corals, and Octocorallia, the soft corals, as well as Ceriantharia, the tube-dwelling anemones. There is strong support for this group having been the first to branch off from the ancestral line. Medusozoa includes the classes Staurozoa, Cubozoa,

and

, but the relationships between these are unclear. Analysis using

ribosomal RNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from riboso ...

subunits suggests that within Medusozoa, Staurozoa was the first group to diverge, with Cubozoa and Scyphozoa forming a clade, a sister group to Hydrozoa. Further study involving the order of mitochondrial genes supports this view, and their possession of linear mitochondrial genomes is striking evidence of the monophyly of medusozoans. The affinities of the class Polypodiozoa, containing the single species ''

Polypodium hydriforme ''Polypodium'' is a genus of cnidarians that parasitizes in the eggs of sturgeon and similar fishes (Acipenseridae and Polyodontidae). It is one of the few metazoans (animals) that live inside the cells of other animals. ''Polypodium hydri ...

'', have long been unclear. This species is an endoparasite of fish eggs and has a peculiar life cycle. It has traditionally been considered to be a cnidarian because of its possession of nematocysts, but molecular studies using 18S rDNA sequences have placed it closer to

Myxozoa Myxozoa (etymology: Greek: μύξα ''myxa'' "slime" or "mucus" + thematic vowel o + ζῷον ''zoon'' "animal") is a subphylum of aquatic cnidarian animals – all obligate parasites. It contains the smallest animals ever known to have lived. O ...

. Further studies involving 28S rDNA sequences suggest that it is either part of the hydrozoan clade Leptothecata, or a sister taxon to Hydrozoa, and does not group with myxozoans.

Characteristics

Medusozoans differ from anthozoans in having a

stage in their life cycle. The basic pattern is medusa (usually the adult or sexual phase), planula larva, polyp, medusa. Symmetry is tetramerous, with parts in fours or multiples of four. The

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

molecules are linear rather than circular as in anthozoans and almost all other animals. The cnidae, the explosive cells characteristic of the Cnidaria and used in prey capture and defence, are of a single type, there being

nematocysts A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast or nematocyte) is an explosive cell containing one large secretory organelle called a cnidocyst (also known as a cnida () or nematocyst) that can deliver a sting to other organisms. The presence of this ce ...

but no spirocysts or ptychocysts. In contrast, the anthozoan life cycle involves a planula larva which settles and becomes a sessile polyp, which is the adult or sexual phase.

Diversity

There is considerable divergence from the basic life cycle pattern among medusozoans. Scyphozoa is the group commonly known as "true jellyfish" and occur in tropical, temperate and polar seas worldwide. Scyphozoans generally have planula larvae that develop into sessile polyps. These reproduce asexually, producing similar polyps by budding, and then either transform into medusae, or repeatedly bud medusae from their upper surface in a process known as

strobilation Strobilisation or transverse fission is a form of asexual reproduction consisting of the spontaneous transverse segmentation of the body. It is observed in certain cnidarians and helminths. This mode of reproduction is characterized by high offspr ...

. Cubozoa is a group commonly known as box jellyfish, that occur in tropical and warm temperate seas. They have cube-shaped, transparent medusae and are heavily-armed with venomous nematocysts. Cubozoans have planula larvae, which settle and develop into sessile polyps, which subsequently metamorphose into sexual medusae, the oral end of each polyp changing into a medusa which separates and swims away. Staurozoa is a small group commonly known as stalked jellyfish. The animals remain attached to the substrate by a stalk at the opposite end from the mouth. Staurozoans can be regarded as large polyps that have partially differentiated into sexually mature medusae. These spawn gametes which develop into non-swimming planulae that crawl away to new locations. Hydrozoa is a large group of solitary and colonial cnidarians from both marine and freshwater environments worldwide. Hydrozoans exhibit the greatest variety of life cycles among medusozoans, with either the polyp or the medusa stage being missing in some groups. In general, medusae are budded laterally from polyps, become mature and spawn, releasing

gamete A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...

s into the water. The planulae may settle to become polyps or continue living in the water column as medusae. File:Polypodium hydriforme C.jpg, ''

'',

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson h ...

s of obscure affinity File:Pelagia noctiluca 1.jpeg, ''

Pelagia noctiluca ''Pelagia noctiluca'' is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus ''Pelagia''. It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, but other common names are purple-striped jelly (causing po ...

'', a

scyphozoa The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish (or "true jellies"). The class name Scyphozoa comes from the Greek word ''skyphos'' (), denoting a kind of drinking cup and alluding to the ...

n File:Cubozoa.jpg, An unidentified cubozoan File:Haliclystus octoradiatus - Becherqualle an Seegras.jpg, '' Haliclystus octoradiatus'', a staurozoan File:Hydrozoa colony.jpg, A colonial

hydrozoa Hydrozoa (hydrozoans; ) are a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline water. The colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specialize ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6596143 Cnidarian taxonomy Animal subphyla Cambrian cnidarians Extant Cambrian first appearances Endoparasites