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Cylista elegans (Dalyell, 1848)

(photo of Dirk Schories, Germany: specimen from Norway, Europe)
   
Sagartia elegans


This common European species was widely known under the name Sagartia elegans. The generic nomen Sagartia was, however, incorrectly applied for this and all other Sagartia species. The correct generic nomen for it (as well as for several other species formerly known as Sagartia) is Cylista.

The whole story that lead to serious changes in naming of this group of sea anemones is rather complex and based on nomenclatural issues. It was discussed in details in our paper published in 2020 in Bionomina (International Journal of Biological Nomenclature and Terminology) (please ask if you need pdf, journal rules do not allow us to publish full text here).

In brief: in 2016 D. Fautin published a catalog of families, genera and species of Actiniaria where she discovered a fact that neither Sagartia miniata nor Sagartia elegans can be the type species of Sagartia (these species were treated as type species of Sagartia by previous authors). This statement is correct. Then, however, she completely misinterpret relevant articles of the International Code of Zoologigal Nomenclature and come to incorrect conclusion that the family Sagartiidae is invalid and rather than try to solve this nomenclatural problem she just listed all genera it contains as incertae sedis (the term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined). In our paper mentioned above we show that the family name Sagartiidae is valid and the type species of Sagartia is Actinia viduata (but not A. parasitica as Fautin 2016 wrote). The consequences of the discovery of the fact that Actinia viduata is the type species of Sagartia are much less harmful than it would be the case if A. parasitica was the type. The current valid nomen of Actinia viduata is Sagartiogeton viduatus. Sagartiogeton belongs to the Sagartiidae, so the composition of this family is not affected. Moreover, Sagartiogeton includes two morphologically distinct groups of species. One group, which includes the type species of the genus, Sagartiogeton robustus, comprises the deep-water species having a thick (robust) column and distinct tenaculi. Another group comprises several mostly shallow-water species having a thin column: S. laceratus, S. undatus and S. viduatus. If the genus was divided in two genera, the generic nomen Sagartiogeton would remain valid for Sagartiogeton robustus and the related thick-walled species, while the thin-walled species currently known as Sagartiogeton laceratus, S. undatus and S. viduatus would receive the generic nomen Sagartia.

The species formerly assigned to Sagartia required a new generic nomen. The oldest available generic nomen for them is Cylista Wright, 1859. Cylista becomes a valid generic nomen for the species formerly known as Sagartia troglodytes, and for the congeneric species, the most well-known of which are Sagartia ornata and Sagartia elegans.


Taxonomy:
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Order Actiniaria

Family Sagartiidae



Species list of sea anemones:
  • Acricoactis brachyacontis
  • Actinernus robustus
  • Actinia equina
  • Actinodendron sp
  • Actinostella bradleyi
  • Actinostephanus haeckeli
  • Actinostola chilensis
  • Actinothoe sphyrodeta
  • Adamsia palliata
  • Aiptasia couchii
  • Aiptasia mutabilis
  • Alicia mirabilis
  • Alicia sansibarensis
  • Allantactis parasitica
  • Amplexidiscus fenestrafer
  • Andresia parthenopea
  • Anemonia alicemartinae
  • Anemonia viridis
  • Antholoba achates
  • Anthopleura elegantissima
  • Anthopleura hermaphroditica
  • Anthopleura orientalis
  • Anthopleura sola
  • Anthopleura xanthogrammica
  • Anthothoe chilensis
  • Armactinia antarctica
  • Artemidactis victrix
  • Aulactinia vancouverensis
  • Aulactinia vladimiri
  • Bathyphellia margaritacea
  • Boloceroides mcmurrichi
  • Boloceropsis platei
  • Bunodactis verrucosa
  • Calliactis polypus
  • Cancrisocia expansa
  • Cereus herpetodes
  • Cereus pedunculatus
  • Cerianthus lloydii
  • Charisea saxicola
  • Cnidopus japonicus
  • Condylactis aurantiaca
  • Condylactis gigantea
  • Corallimorphus karinae
  • Corallimorphus pilatus
  • Corynactis californica
  • Corynactis carnea
  • Corynactis viridis
  • Cribrinopsis albopunctata
  • Cribrinopsis crassa
  • Cribrinopsis fernaldi
  • Cribrinopsis olegi
  • Cribrinopsis rubens
  • Cribrinopsis similis
  • Cryptodendrum adhaesivum
  • Cylista elegans
  • Dactylanthus antarcticus
  • Diadumene lineata
  • Discosoma nummiforme
  • Dofleinia armata
  • Edwardsia inachi
  • Edwardsiella loveni
  • Entacmaea quadricolor
  • Epiactis prolifera
  • Epizoanthus couchii
  • Epizoanthus fiordicus
  • Exaiptasia diaphana
  • Glyphoperidium bursa
  • Gonactinia prolifera
  • Gyractis octoradiata
  • Halcampa arctica
  • Halcampoides sp
  • Halcampoides mediterranea
  • Halcurias pilatus
  • Heteractis aurora
  • Heterodactyla hemprichii
  • Hormathia lacunifera
  • Hormathia nodosa
  • Hormathia pacifica
  • Hormathia pectinata
  • Hormosoma scotti
  • Isaurus tuberculatus
  • Isoparactis fabiani
  • Isoparactis fionae
  • Isosicyonis alba
  • Korsaranthus natalensis
  • Liponema brevicorne
  • Macrodactyla doreensis
  • Megacorynactis giganteus
  • Megalactis griffithsi
  • Mesozoanthus fossii
  • Metridium farcimen
  • Metridium lobatum
  • Metridium senile
  • Metridium senile fimbriatum
  • Nemanthus sp
  • Octineon suecicum
  • Ophiodiscus bukini
  • Ophiodiscus moskalevi
  • Oulactis concinnata
  • Pachycerianthus multiplicatus
  • Pachycerianthus solitarius
  • Paracalliactis involvens
  • Paracondylactis sinensis
  • Paraedwardsia malakhovi
  • Paraisanthus tamarae
  • Paranthus niveus
  • Parazoanthus anguicomus
  • Parazoanthus axinellae
  • Parazoanthus elongatus
  • Peachia cylindrica
  • Phellia exlex
  • Phelliactis callicyclus
  • Phyllodiscus semoni
  • Phymactis papillosa
  • Phymanthea pluvia
  • Phymanthus crucifer
  • Phymanthus species
  • Platyzoanthus mussoides
  • Protanthea simplex
  • Protopalythoa mutuki
  • Pseudocorynactis caribbeorum
  • Ptychodactis aleutiensis
  • Ptychodactis patula
  • Radianthus crispa
  • Radianthus magnifica
  • Radianthus malu
  • Rhodactis inchoata
  • Rhodactis indosinensis
  • Ricordea yuma
  • Sagartia lacerata
  • Sagartia undata
  • Sagartiogeton californicus
  • Sagartiogeton rufus
  • Sicyonis denisovi
  • Sicyonis heliodiscus
  • Sicyonis kuznetsovi
  • Spongiactis japonica
  • Stichodactyla gigantea
  • Stichodactyla haddoni
  • Stichodactyla tapetum
  • Stomphia coccinea
  • Tealidium konoplinorum
  • Telmatactis sp
  • Triactis producta
  • Urticina clandestina
  • Urticina columbiana
  • Urticina crassicornis
  • Urticina eques
  • Urticina fecunda
  • Urticina felina
  • Urticina grebelnyi
  • Urticina kurila
  • Urticina mcpeaki
  • Urticina timuri
  • Verrillactis paguri
  • Zaolutus actius

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