Chiropsalmus maculatus Cornelius 2005
Creators: name: Gershwin, Lisa-Ann
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Cubozoa
Chirodropida
Chiropsalmidae
Chiropsalmus
Chiropsalmus maculatus

description: <i>Chiropsalmus maculatus</i> Cornelius <i>et al</i>., 2005 <i>Chiropsalmus maculatus</i> Cornelius et al., 2005: 399–405, figs. 1–6. <i>Chirodropus</i> n. sp. A Gershwin, 2005: 122–123, pl. 4.8B, and throughout. <i>Material examined</i> Holotype: QMG316989: Just inside Outer Great Barrier Reef, NE Queensland, 43 km off mainland, 15° 59.050'S, 145° 49.294'E, 2 May 1997, within 5m of surface, coll. R. Hore. <i>Remarks</i> The revised diagnosis given herein for the genus <i>Chiropsalmus</i> precludes this species from this classification. Specifically, in comparison with the diagnosis presented above for <i>Chiropsalmus</i>, <i>C. maculatus</i> does not have exumbrellar warts; the pedalial canal bend is spike­shaped rather than rounded; gastric saccules are lacking; the lateral gonads are comprised of thousands of fine ribbon­like filaments rather than two leaf­like sheets; the tentacles are broad and flattened; and the mesenteries are robust. Furthermore, the species has well developed muscle bands occupying the majority of the subumbrellar wall; the phacellae are in large triangular fields along the lateral walls of the stomach rather than as linear organs along the stomach floor; and the 'palm' of the pedalium is greatly reduced; these characters are unknown in any other cubozoan. While it is clear that the species is not a <i>Chiropsalmus</i>, it is less clear to exactly which genus the species does belong. <i>Chirodropus</i> Haeckel was said to have 'grape­like swellings' on the outer margin of the gonads, but in <i>Chiropsalmus maculatus</i> the gonads are replaced by fine threads. <i>Chirodropus</i> was further said to have feather­like gastric saccules bearing numerous filaments; <i>Chiropsalmus maculatus</i> does not have saccules of any shape, and no structures with filaments emanate from the subumbrellar cavity. While I am hesitant to erect a new genus for a species with only one known member, I believe that this is the most stable course of action for this species, i.e., I believe that including it within <i>Chirodropus</i> would make it unstable in the near future as <i>Chirodropus</i> becomes more accurately redescribed. I therefore propose the new genus <i>Chirodectes</i> for this species (Greek, chiro­, hand; ­dectes, biter), and include <i>Chirodectes maculatus</i> (Cornelius et al., 2005) comb. nov. in the family Chirodropidae, with the following diagnosis: Genus <i>Chirodectes</i>, gen. nov. Chirodropidae without gastric saccules; with large fields of well developed subumbrellar muscle bands spanning the perradial sides; with large fields of gastric cirri lining the interradial sides of the stomach wall; with filamentous gonads.
description: Published as part of <i>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, pp. 1-42 in Zootaxa 1231 (1)</i> on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1231.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5065038
description: {"references": ["Gershwin, L. (2005). Taxonomy and phylogeny of Australian Cubozoa. (James Cook University: Townsville, Queensland). PhD thesis. 221 pp., 49 plates."]}