TAMOYIDAE Haeckel, 1880

Bentlage, Bastian & Lewis, Cheryl, 2012, An illustrated key and synopsis of the families and genera of carybdeid box jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida), with emphasis on the “ Irukandji family ” (Carukiidae), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 46 (41 - 42), pp. 2595-2620 : 2607

Family TAMOYIDAE Haeckel, 1880

Only one genus.............................. Genus Tamoya ( Figures 2A , 3F, H, I )

Tamoya Müller, 1859 (refer to Collins et al. 2011 for a review of the genus). Type species: Tamoya haplonema Müller, 1859 , by subsequent designation ( Haeckel 1880). Species: T. bursaria (Lesson, 1829) nomen dubium, T. haeckeli Southcott, 1967 = T. gargantua , T. gargantua (Lesson, 1829) nomen dubium, T. ohboya Collins et al., 2011 , T. prismatica Haeckel, 1880 = T. haplonema , T. haplonema Müller, 1859 .

Geographic distribution of the family

Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean, with most records from the western Atlantic and the Caribbean; tropical to temperate; mostly neritic.

Remarks

Gershwin and Alderslade (2005) considered the genera of Carukiidae to be part of the family Tamoyidae . The phylogenetic and taxonomic treatment of Bentlage et al. (2010) shows that Tamoyidae is a monogeneric family containing only the genus Tamoya . Morphologically, Tamoyidae can be distinguished from the Carukiidae based on the lack of rhopaliar horns. In addition, Tamoya species possess vertical rows of gastric cirri running along the perradial sides of the stomach ( Collins et al. 2011). Collins et al. (2011) review the Tamoyidae with details of its history and morphology/anatomy.

Some species of Tamoya that are currently unrecognizable were originally described from the Indo-Pacific (e.g. T. bursaria ). Additionally, cubozoans collected from the Indo-Pacific have regularly been identified as species of Tamoya . When inspection of such specimens was possible, we determined that the specimens belong to the Carukiidae (e.g. Morbakka virulenta from Japan that was described, and is regularly referred to, as Tamoya virulenta ). All records of Tamoya originating from the Indo-Pacific should be treated as suspect; these records most likely refer to specimens of Morbakka or Gerongia that were erroneously identified as Tamoya , because the lack of gastric phacellae and presence of rhopaliar horns are often overlooked.

Figures

Figure 2. Representative species of box jellyfish from each family of Carybdeida (A–E) and one from Chirodropida (F). Note that the chirodropid possesses multiple tentacles per pedalium (F) whereas the carybdeid species possess only a single tentacle per pedalium (A–E). (A) Tamoya ohboya (Tamoyidae; image courtesy of Tim Lowry), (B) Malo kingi (Carukiidae), (C) male and female of Copula sivickisi coupling during courtship (Tripedaliidae; image courtesy of Alvaro Migotto), (D) Carybdea branchi (Carybdeidae; image courtesy of Brent Viljoen), (E) Alatina sp. (Alatinidae), (F) Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Chiropsalmidae).sb: swimming bell, pe: pedalium, te: tentacle.

Figure 3. Key characters for identification of the Carybdeida: (A) location of taxonomic characters (Carybdea brevipedalia; image courtesy of Alvaro Migotto), (B) T-shaped rhopaliar niche ostium; note the three scales covering the niche, thus leaving a T-shaped ostium, (C) heartshaped rhopaliar niche ostium; niche ostium with only one upper covering scale, (D) key-hole shaped rhopaliar niche ostium in Copula sivickisi, (E) frown-shaped rhopaliar niche ostium in Tripedalia, (F) frown-shaped rhopaliar niche ostium in Tamoya, (G) frown-shaped rhopaliar niche ostium with rhopaliar horns in Malo, (H, I) vertical gastric phacellae in the stomach of Tamoya, (J) multiple pedalia on each corner of the swimming bell in Tripedalia, (K) crescentric gastric phacellae in Alatina (apical view). cs: covering scale, ma: manubrium, ph: gastric phacellae (comprises gastric cirri) in the stomach cavity, pc: pedalial canal, pcb: pedalial canal bend, pe: pedalium, rh: rhopalium, rn: rhopaliar niche that opens on the exumbrellar side of the bell with the rhopaliar niche ostium, rno: rhopaliar niche ostium, rho: rhopaliar horn, sto: stomach, te: tentacle, ve: velarium, vec: velarial canal.