Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Classis: Hydrozoa
Subclassis: Trachylinae
Ordo: Trachymedusae
Familia: Rhopalonematidae
Genus: Vampyrocrossota
Species: Vampyrocrossota childressi
Name
Vampyrocrossota Thuesen, 1993
References
Vampyrocrossota – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Vernacular names
English: Black medusa
Vampyrocrossota is a genus of hydrozoans of the family Rhopalonematidae.[1] The genus only contains one species, Vampyrocrossota childressi.[2] Unlike many hydromedusae, these animals do not have a sessile stage. Rather, they spend their entire lives in the water column as plankton. It is the only known species with a medusa that is truly black.[1]
Distribution
Vampyrocrossota childressi has only been found in the Pacific Ocean off California and British Columbia.[3] This deep-sea animal lives between 600–1475 m depth.[1]
Etymology
This species was named after James J. Childress, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara who helped discover this jellyfish.[4]
References
Thuesen, E.V. 1993. Vampyrocrossota childressi, a new genus and species of black medusa from the bathypelagic zone off California (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 106 (1): 190-194. http://biostor.org/cache/pdf/a3/f3/cc/a3f3cc72a73958a5bc0da92920424458.pdf
Vampyrocrossota childressi Thuesen, E.V. 1993. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
Thuesen, E.V., 2003. Crossota millsae (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae), a new species of viviparous hydromedusa from the deep sea off California and Hawaii. Zootaxa, 309: 1-12 http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00309.pdf
"Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names". Retrieved 28 July 2012.
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