| Bazinga rieki | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Scyphozoa |
| Order: | Rhizostomeae |
| Suborder: | Ptychophorae |
| Family: | Bazingidae Gershwin, L. & Davie, P.J.F. 2013 |
| Genus: | Bazinga Gershwin, L. & Davie, P.J.F. 2013 |
| Species: | B. rieki |
| Binomial name | |
| Bazinga rieki Gershwin, L. & Davie, P.J.F. 2013 | |
Bazinga is a genus of rhizostome jellyfish with only one known species, Bazinga rieki, found off the central eastern coast of Australia. [1]
Bazinga rieki could not be placed in any known family or suborder of rhizostome jellyfish, so a new family Bazingidae was erected; it represents a new suborder of Rhizostomeae, called Ptychophorae. [1] Bazinga rieki has a thick round translucent and colourless body, the aboral (upper) surface of which is covered in tiny warts with yellow centres.
The subumbrellar muscle folds are golden brown, their colour derived from zooxanthellae. With a diameter of less than 2 centimetres (0.79 in), [1] around the size of a grape, [2] it is much smaller than any other rhizostome. It has a large circular stomach that takes up over half the jellyfish's body and is visible from underneath. It has a hooded rhopalia rather than open pits, unlike any other rhizostome. [1]
Marine biologists Lisa-Ann Gershwin and Peter Davie described the jellyfish in June 2013, from the holotype, which was collected in shallow water in the Brunswick River in northern New South Wales at high tide. The specific epithet refers to Denis Riek, who photographed a specimen in northern New South Wales, leading to the discovery.
The genus name, Bazinga, has two cultural references: firstly, as a colloquialism meaning "fooled you!" uttered by Dr. Sheldon Cooper in the television program The Big Bang Theory , as the small size means the species was probably mistaken as a juvenile of other species, such as the similar Catostylus mosaicus ; the term bazinga is also given to a seven-string harp, and the straight radial canals of this new species are reminiscent of such strings. [1]
The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish.
The order Peramelemorphia includes the bandicoots and bilbies. All members of the order are endemic to Australia-New Guinea and most have the characteristic bandicoot shape: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, very large upright ears, relatively long, thin legs, and a thin tail. Their size varies from about 140 grams up to 4 kilograms, but most species are about one kilogram.
Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, and a few others, are extremely painful and often fatal to humans.
Hydrozoa is 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 specialized individual animals cannot survive outside the colony. A few genera within this class live in freshwater habitats. Hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals and belong to the phylum Cnidaria.
Rhizostomeae is an order of jellyfish. Species of this order have neither tentacles nor other structures at the bell's edges. Instead, they have eight highly branched oral arms, along which there are suctorial minimouth orifices. These oral arms become fused as they approach the central part of the jellyfish. The mouth of the animal is also subdivided into minute pores that are linked to coelenteron.
Nomura's jellyfish is a very large rhizostome jellyfish, in the same size class as the lion's mane jellyfish, the largest cnidarian in the world. It is edible but not considered high quality. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Nemopilema. Commonly found in the waters of East Asia, and can negatively effect fisheries due to their large size and quantity. As a form of combating the large blooms, recent studies attempt to find new uses for the large jellyfish such as studying its venom for medical applications.
The Irukandji jellyfish are any of several similar, extremely venomous species of rare jellyfish. With a very small adult size of about a cubic centimetre, they are both the smallest and one of the most venomous jellyfish in the world. They inhabit the northern marine waters of Australia, and cost the Australian government $AUD 3 billion annually through medical costs associated with stings and tourism losses. This type of jellyfish reproduces sexually with eggs and sperm. They fire their stingers into their victim, causing a condition known in humans as Irukandji syndrome, which can be fatal and difficult to immediately recognise due to the delayed effects of the venom. There are about 16 known species of Irukandji, of which Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, Malo maxima, Malo filipina and Malo bella are the best known.
Discomedusae is a subclass of jellyfish in the class Scyphozoa. It is the sister taxon of Coronamedusae. Discomedusae contains about 155 named species and there are likely to be many more as yet undescribed. Jellyfish in this subclass are much more likely to have swarming events or form blooms than those in Coronamedusae. Discomedusae consists of two orders, Rhizostomeae and Semaeostomeae.
Phyllorhiza punctata is a species of jellyfish, also known as the floating bell, Australian spotted jellyfish, brown jellyfish or the white-spotted jellyfish. It is native to the western Pacific from Australia to Japan, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It feeds primarily on zooplankton. P. punctata generally can reach up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in bell diameter, but in October 2007, one 74 cm (29 in) wide, perhaps the largest ever recorded, was found on Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
Palorchestes is an extinct genus of large terrestrial, herbivorous Australian marsupial of the family Palorchestidae, living from the Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene. Like other palorchestids, it had highly retracted nasal region suggesting that it had a prehensile lip, as well as highly unusual clawed forelimbs that were used to grasp vegetation.
The spotted jelly, lagoon jelly, golden medusa, or Papuan jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish from the Indo-Pacific oceans. Like corals, sea anemones, and other sea jellies, it belongs to the phylum Cnidaria. Mastigias papua is one of the numerous marine animals living in symbiosis with zooxanthellae, a photosynthetic alga.
Malo is one of a genus of box jellies in the family Carybdeida in the Phylum Cnidaria. It has four known species, three of which were described by the Australian marine biologist Lisa-Ann Gershwin. The genus was discovered in 2005. Many of the species are known for their paralytic and deadly affect. Many species in the Malo genus are very small and hard to capture and study. Many species of Malo have been captured on the Western and Eastern cost of Australia. Malo appear to be solidarity jellies.
Malo kingi or the common kingslayer is a species of Irukandji jellyfish. It was first described to science in 2007, and is one of four species in the genus Malo. It has one of the world's most potent venoms, even though it is no bigger than a human thumbnail. As an Irukandji, it can cause Irukandji syndrome, characterized by severe pain, vomiting, and rapid rise in blood pressure.
Marivagia is a monotypic genus of jellyfish, containing only the species, Marivagia stellata, that was first described in 2010 following the discovery of several specimens on the Mediterranean coast of Israel.
Carukiidae is a family of box jellyfish within the Cubozoa class. Carukiidae can be easily classified by their lack of cirri clumps inside the cubozoan stomach, as well as the size and the placement of their nematocysts.
Libinia ferreirae is a species of tropical spider crab in the family Epialtidae. It is found on the seabed in shallow waters off the Atlantic coast of South America.
Euglossa bazinga is a euglossine bee species found in Brazil. It is named after the catchphrase of the fictional character Dr. Sheldon Cooper from the television show The Big Bang Theory. It was previously misidentified as Euglossa ignita, and is threatened with habitat loss.
Ptychophorae is a suborder of rhizostome jellyfish, identified in 2013 by Gershwin and Davie.
Lisa-ann Gershwin, also known as Lisa Gershwin, is a biologist based in Launceston, Tasmania, who has described over 200 species of jellyfish, and written and co-authored several non-fiction books about Cnidaria including Stung! (2013) and Jellyfish – A Natural History (2016). She provides independent advice related to jellyfish worldwide to the media, online and via The Jellyfish App. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2021 Tasmanian state election running as an independent in the electorate of Clark.
The excitable delma is a species of lizard in the Pygopodidae family endemic to Australia. The lizard gets its name from its active and jumpy defense mechanism. It will erratically jump multiple times in succession, each jump pivoting its body in a different direction. D. tincta is a slender, long legless lizard that through evolution lost its limbs. It is found throughout Australia in a variety of habitats, and spends most of its time hiding. Due to its nocturnal nature, it is rare to spot in the wild. This legless lizard is small to moderate in size, with a tail that is three to four times its body length. The typical size of the excitable delma is 250 – 300 mm. This lizard is an insectivore and feeds on insects it finds when travelling through grass, logs, surface soil, and loose rocks. Like all pygopodids, the excitable delma is oviparous and only lays two eggs per clutch.
