Order CARYBDEIDA Gegenbaur, 1856

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gershwin, L. 2005. Taxonomy and phylogeny of Australian Cubozoa. Unpublished PhD thesis. School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD. 221 pp. 49 pls [102]

Introduction

The elevation of the order Cubomedusae to the class level by Werner (1973) left an illogical classification, wherein the Class Cubozoa and the Order Cubomedusae define precisely the same set of species at the upper taxonomic levels, resulting in inappropriate groupings and thus loss of resolution at the lower taxonomic levels (e.g. the families Carybdeidae and Chirodropidae, the genera Carybdea and Chiropsalmus).

A finer resolution of the lower taxonomic groups was attempted by Werner (1984), by raising the former “family Carybdeidae” (=all cubozoans with unbranched pedalia) and the former “family Chirodropidae” (=all cubozoans with branched pedalia) to the ordinal level, i.e., the orders Carybdeida and Chirodropida. This initiative was not widely adopted until recently, when it was upheld by Gershwin in numerous revisions and new descriptions from 2005 onward.

The Order Carybdeida is attributed to Gegenbaur (1856) by the Principle of Coordination, because he was the first to recognise the Carybdeidae as a family, although not in its current sense.

Diagnosis

Cubozoa with one or more simple, unbranched oar-like pedalia per corner, with only a single tentacle per pedalium; gastric saccules lacking; gastric phacellae present or absent.

General References

Gegenbaur, C. 1856. Studien uber organisation und systematik der Ctenophoren. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 22(1): 163-205, pls 7-8

Gershwin, L.-A. 2014. Two new species of box jellies (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida) from the central coast of Western Australia, both presumed to cause Irukandji syndrome. Records of the Western Australian Museum 29: 10-19

Gershwin, L.-A. & Hannay, P. 2014. An anomalous cluster of Irukandji jelly stings (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida) at Ningaloo Reef. Records of the Western Australian Museum 29: 78-81

Werner, B. 1973. New investigations on systematics and evolution of the class Scyphozoa and the phylum Cnidaria. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory 20: 35–61 [Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Cnidaria]

History of changes