Key: {Enter name here}
{Type list of higher taxonomic levels here, with links were possible}
Taken primarily from Kozloff,
1987, 1996 p. 62 (Copyright 1987, 1996, University of
Washington Press. Used in this web page by permission of University
of Washington Press)
| 1a |
With a gas-filled float, and with numerous nectophores
arranged below this, followed by a stem
region bearing groups of feeding, reproductive, and buoyant zooids;
terminal stem groups
not becoming individually detached and living apart from the colony (Suborder
Physonectae) |
2 |
| 1b |
Without a gas-filled float, and with only 1 or 2 nectophores;
terminal stem groups
becoming detached and living apart from the colony as "eudoxids"
(Suborder Calycophorae) |
4 |
| 2a |
Stem elongate and trailing up to 1 m, with feeding and reproductive
zooids along the entire
length |
3 |
| 2b |
Stem reduced to the extent that the enlarged feeding and reproductive
zooids form a ring
immediately below the nectophores
(rare) |
Physophora hydrostatica |
| 3a |
Float, nectophores,
stem, and gastrozooids with distinct chromatophores (orange when expanded,
plum-colored when contracted); nectophores
with ridges and truncated apical wings, and having lateral canals with
pronounced sigmoid curves; colony not fragmenting in nature |
Nanomia cara |
| 3b |
Float, nectophores,
stem, and gastrozooids
colorless; nectophores
not ridged, appearing heart-shaped when viewed from the ostial side, and
having fairly straight lateral canals; colony fragmenting into swimming
(with nectophores)
and non-swimming (stem
only) portions. |
Cordagalma cordiformis |
| 4a |
With 2 soft, gelatinous, rounded nectophores,
each up to 5 cm long, arranged "back-to-back"; bracts
of eudoxids with
4 major canals running through the mesoglea
(rare) |
5 |
| 4b |
With 1 or 2 firm, elongate or spherical nectophores
not over 3 cm long (when there are 2, they are "in line", rather than "back-to-back");
bracts
of eudoxids without
canals (but see Dimophyes arctica, which has analogous structures) |
7 |
| 5a |
|
|
| 5b |
|
|
| 6a |
|
|
| 6b |
|
|
| 7a |
Nectophore(s)
elongated, approximately twice as high as wide, the hydroecium
always less than half as deep as the apex of the subumbrellar
cavity (nectosac) |
8 |
| 7b |
Nectophore
approximately spherical, the hydroecium
long and curving up and over the subumbrellar
cavity |
Sphaeronectes gracilis |
| 8a |
Nectophore(s)
with prominent longitudinal ridges; anterior nectophore
(if 2 are present) sharply pointed and about one and a half times as long
as the posterior one; mouthplate of nectophore(s)
divided; bract and
gonophore
of eudoxid with ridges |
9 |
| 8b |
Nectophore(s)
without prominent ridges; anterior nectophore
rounded and about twice as long as the posterior one; mouthplate of nectophore(s)
not divided; neither bract
nor gonophore of
eudoxid
with ridges (somatocyst
in
bract of eudoxid
long, with prominent apical and basal horns) |
Dimophyes arctica |
| 9a |
Anterior nectophore
with 3 longitudinal ridges at the apex; bracteal
cavity of eudoxid
nearly half the height of the bract |
Chelophyes appendiculata |
| 9b |
Anterior nectophore
with 5 longitudinal ridges at the apex; bracteal
cavity of eudoxid
substantially less than half the height of the bract |
10 |
| 10a |
With a single nectophore
up to about 5 mm long; somatocyst
of the nectophore
long, reaching approximately to the level of the apex of the nectosac;
apex of bract of eudoxid
with a flat flange, somatocyst
in bract of eudoxid
small and tubular |
Muggiaea atlantica |
| 10b |
Usually with 2 nectophores,
the anterior one up to 2.5 cm long; somatocyst of anterior nectophore
ending some distance below the apex of the nectosac;
eudoxid
not as described in choice 10a |
11 |
| 11a |
|
|
| 11b |
|
|
Taxonomic Levels Represented
in This Key:
Muggiaea atlantica
Nanomia cara
Page created by Dave Cowles, 2014
Edited by:
Salish Sea Invertebrates web site provided courtesy of Walla
Walla University
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