Zoanthidae Rafinesque, 1815, 1900

Low, Martyn E. Y., Sinniger, Frederic & Reimer, James Davis, 2016, The order Zoantharia Rafinesque, 1815 (Cnidaria, Anthozoa: Hexacorallia): supraspecific classification and nomenclature, ZooKeys 641, pp. 1-80 : 6

Zoanthidae Rafinesque, 1815

Zoanthidae (as “Zoanthia”) Rafinesque, 1815: 155.

Zoanthidae Gray, 1832: 95.

Type genus.

Zoanthus Lamarck, 1801.

Diagnosis.

Brachycnemic zoantharians with no or little sand/detritus encrustation. Continuous or divided marginal muscle, and zoanthinae larvae ( Ryland and Lancaster 2003).

Remarks.

All members of this family are zooxanthellate (with endosymbiotic Symbiodinium spp.), and are found in sub-tropical and tropical waters. Authorship of the family-group name Zoanthidae should be attributed to Rafinesque (1815), and not Gray (1832, 1840) (see Low and Reimer 2012a). Three genera are currently assigned to Zoanthidae Rafinesque, 1815.