The Identity of Some Cyphonautes Larvae (Polyzoa)

Abstract

SUMMARYFive cyphonautes are described in Nordisches Plankton (Lohmann, 1911). Cyphonautes schneideri and C. borealis are larvae of Membranipora membranacea and represent extremes of variation in the shape of the shell. Cyphonautes balticus, like C. compressus which was very inadequately described, is the larva of Electra pilosa. The cyphonautes of these two species are the only ones likely to be encountered in the plankton of normally saline European seas. Cyphonautes barroisi is the larva of the brackish-water Electra crustulenta.Cyphonautes balticus Thorson (1946), not Lohmann, is the larva of M. membranacea.Larval synonymies for M. membranacea and E. pilosa are given.The use of the Cyphonautes names is undesirable, and those of the polyzoan adults should be employed.