Suborder CLEISTOCARPIDA Clark, 1863

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Introduction

The suborder Cleistocarpida was originally proposed as a family, the Cleistocarpidae, and recognised as such by many authors (Clark, 1863; Mayer, 1910; Carlgren, 1935; Kramp, 1961b; Corbin, 1978; Hirano, 1986). As noted by Gwilliam (1956), because there is no genus Cleistocarpus, the family Cleistocarpidae is not teneble. Gwilliam raised the family to the suborder, and this convention has been followed by recent authors (Larson 1988; Mills, 1999).

The Cleistocarpida contains two families, the Depastridae Haeckel (1880), and the Craterolophidae Uchida (1929). Of these, only the Depastridae has been reported in Australian waters, i.e., Depastromorpha africana Carlgren (Grohmann et al. 1999).

Diagnosis

Stauromedusae with perradial stomach pouches divided into inner and outer mesogonial pockets by a partition (claustrum).

Diagnosis References

Larson, R. J., & Fautin, D. G. 1989. Stauromedusae of the genus Manania (=Thaumatoscyphus) (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) in the northeast Pacific, including descriptions of new species Manania gwilliami and Manania handi. Canadian Journal of Zoology 67: 1543-1549 [1547]

General References

Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977]

History of changes