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Order CHIRODROPIDA Haeckel, 1880


Compiler and date details

June 2012 - Lisa-ann Gershwin

DRAFT RECORD

This taxon is under review. This record is released now for public view, prior to final verification. For further information or comment email us.



Introduction

The branched-pedalia species have long been recognised as separate from the simple-pedalia taxa, but both groupings were widely regarded to be at the family level. However, when Werner (1973) elevated the cubomedusae to the Class Cubozoa, that left the Order Cubomedusae and the Class Cubozoa both defining precisely the same set of taxa; this was later corrected by Werner (1984), in elevating the families Carybdeidae and Chirodropidae to the orders Carybdeida and Chirodropida. However, while the elevation to the class level has been widely adopted, raising the families to orders has gone virtually unnoticed, perhaps because the correction was made in a German-language book chapter, thus being readily unaccessable to many workers and search engines.

The order Chirodropida was recognised by Gershwin (2005a, 2006b) and Gershwin & Alderslade (2006a), to include the families Chirodropidae and Chiropsalmidae. The order is attributed to Haeckel (1880) by the Principle of Coordination.

 

Diagnosis

Cubozoa with branched pedalia bearing numerous tentacles; with or without gastric
saccules.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
13-Aug-2013 MODIFIED