Chiropsalmidae Thiel, 1936

Gershwin, Lisa-Ann, 2006, Comments on Chiropsalmus (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Chirodropida): a preliminary revision of the Chiropsalmidae, with descriptions of two new genera and two new species, Zootaxa 1231 (1), pp. 1-42 : 5

Family Chiropsalmidae Thiel, 1936 , sens. emend.

Chirodropidae Haeckel, 1880: 445 ; in part. — Kramp, 1961: 307. — Werner, 1984: 133. Carybdeidae . — Mayer, 1910: 504; in part.

Drepanochiridae Krumbach, 1925: 575 .

Chiropsalmidae Thiel, 1936: 307 ; in part.

Diagnosis Chirodropida with smooth, unbranched, finger­like gastric saccules, lacking filaments.

Remarks

Thiel (1936) erected the family Chiropsalmidae to replace the family Chirodropidae based on his opinion that the genus name Chirodropus was invalid. I disagree about the invalidity of Chirodropus (which is beyond the scope of this paper), but believe that there exists enough gross morphological difference between the generic clusters Chiropsalmus – Chiropsoides and Chirodropus – Chironex to warrant recognition at the familial level. I therefore propose resurrection of the family Chiropsalmidae , in an emended sense.

Two other families have been previously proposed that overlap to some degree with the Chiropsalmidae , both applying to Chiropsoides buitendijki . Krumbach (1925) proposed the family name Drepanochiridae for his newly erected genus Drepanochirus , which was meant to separate Drepanochirus (= Chiropsalmus ) buitendijki from the other Chiropsalmus species. Southcott (1956) found the genus name Drepanochirus to be preoccupied for a coleopterid, and thus proposed the genus name Chiropsoides and the corresponding family name Chiropsoididae, once again emphasizing the uniqueness of ‘ Chiropsalmus buitendijki ’. It may well be that further studies into the morphology and genetics of Chiropsoides buitendijki will prove it worthy of higher level separation, but it seems most conservative to recognize its close relationship to Chiropsalmus (based on the smooth, pendant gastric saccules) in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary.

A comparison of characters useful in separating the species in the family Chiropsalmidae is presented in Table 1.