Lolliguncula Steenstrup, 1881

Introduction

Species of Lolliguncula are rather small squids that generally occupy warm, shallow waters and some invade regions of low salinity.

Brief diagnosis:

A loliginid ...

• with short mantle, rounded posteriorly; fins wider than long but without posterior lobes.
• with a long cement body in the spermatophores.
  
• without ventral crest on hectocotylus.
• with distribution only in American waters.

Characteristics

1. Arms
   1. Sucker rings with square teeth on distal or entire margin.
      

      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      

      Figure. Oral view of arm III sucker of L. argus, male, 30 mm ML. Drawing from Brakoniecki and Roper (1985).

   2. Suckers on mid-sections of lateral arms of males not greatly enlarged.
   3. Hectocotylus:
      1. Ventral crest absent.
      2. Unmodified proximal region of hectocotylus present (in subgenus Lolliguncula) or absent (in subgenus Loliolopsis).
      3. Suckers of modified region reduced, sucker stalks elongated to form papillae on either dorsal or both dorsal and ventral rows.
         
         
2. Tentacles
   1. Tentacular clubs expanded, suckers in four series.
      
      
3. Mantle
   1. Mantle posteriorly rounded; posterior tail-like elongation absent.
      
      
4. Fins
   1. Fins posterior, broadly rounded posteriorly.
   2. Fins wider than long in adults.
      
      
5. Photophores
   1. Photophores absent.
      
      
6. Viscera
   1. Eggs less than 3mm.
   2. Spermatophore cement body long.
   

   Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

   

   Figure. Spermatophore of L. brevis, 90 mm ML, showing the size of the cement body (amber color). Drawing modified from Hess (1987).

Comments

The cement body of Lolliguncula species, where known, varies roughly between 30-50% of the spermatophore length. In other loliginid genera with small cement bodies, the cement body typically is between about 3-15% of the spermatophore lenght.

Members of Lolliguncula (Lolliguncula) have the modified portion of the hectocotylus less than the entire arm (ie, the proximal portion is not modified) while Lolliguncula (Loliolopsis) has the hectocotylus modified along the entire arm.

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Figure. Ventral view of Lolliguncula (Loliolopsis) diomedeae (holotype of Loliolopsis chiroctes), preserved. Photograph by R. Young.

Nomenclature

Berry (1929) described a new species that he named chiroctes and erected the genus Loliolopsis because of the distinctiveness of the new species. Voss (1971) recognized that L. chiroctes is a junior synonym of Hoyle's Loligo diomedeae but that Berry was correct in establishing a new genus. Therefore, the type species of Loliolopsis (now a subgenus of Lolliguncula) is Loliolopsis diomedeae (Hoyle, 1904).

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The genus Lolliguncula was established to distinguish L. brevis from the species of Loligo then known, based on body and fin shape and spermatophore deposition site. These characters have since proven to exhibit considerable variability, both within and among species. However, all of the species in this genus are united and distinguished from all other loliginids by the long cement body of their spermatophores. Variability exists in hectocotylus morphology, and this led Berry (1929) to erect the genus Loliolopsis and Brakoniecki (1986) to erect Afrololigo. This variability is extreme in L. diomedeae, but Brakoniecki (1986) has pointed out the similarities in hectocotylization between this species and the others of Lolliguncula.

Many of the morphological characters of Afrololigo mercatoris are shared with species of Lolliguncula, the genus in which it was originally described. However, DNA sequence analysis by Anderson (2000) supports Brakoniecki's (1986) conclusion based on hectocotylus morphology that Afrololigo is a distinct genus.

Distribution

These are all American species, with their low-latitude distribution centered at Panama. One species, L. brevis, is found on the Atlantic side of the Americas whereas three, L. panamensis, L. diomedeae and L. argus are found on the Pacific side. All of these species are found in warm, shallow, inshore waters. The genus is noteworthy among cephalopods for its euryhalinity.

Other Names for Lolliguncula Steenstrup, 1881

• Brief squids

References

Alexeyev, D.O. 1992. The Systematic Position of Bioluminescent Squids of the Family Loliginidae (Cephalopoda, Myopsida). Zoologeskiy Zhurnal, 71(11):12-23. (In Russian).

Berry, S.S. 1929. Loliolopsis chiroctes, a New Genus and Species of Squid from the Gulf of California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 5(18):263-282, plates 32-33.

Brakoniecki, T.F. 1986. A Generic Revision of the Family Loliginidae (Cephalopoda; Myopsida) Based Primarily on the Comparative Morphology of the Hectocotylus. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA. 163 pages.

Vecchione, M., T. F. Brakoniecki, Y. Natsukari and R. T. Hanlon. 1998. A Provisional Generic Classification of the Family Loliginidae. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 586: 215-222.

Vecchione, M., E. Shea, S. Bussarawit, F. Anderson, D. Alexeyev, C.-C. Lu, T. Okutani, M. Roeleveld, C. Chotiyaputta, C. Roper, E. Jorgensen and N. Sukramongkol. 2005. Systematics of Indo-West Pacific loliginids. Phuket Mar. Biol. Cent. Res. Bull. 66: 23-26.

Voss, G. L. 1971. Cephalopods collected by the R/V JOHN ELLIOTT PILLSBURY in the Gulf of Panama in 1967. Bull. Mar. Sci. 21:1-34.