Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Spiralia
Cladus: Lophotrochozoa
Phylum: Mollusca
Classis: Cephalopoda
Subclassis: Coleoidea
Cohors: Neocoleoidea
SuperOrdo: Octopodiformes
Ordo: Octopoda
SubOrdo: Incirrina
Familia: Octopodidae
Genus: Paroctopus
Paroctopus is a small genus of octopuses from the family Octopodidae.
Paroctopus are small-bodied; short mantled, pouch like octopuses with short, stocky arms which are 2 or 3 times the length of the mantle. The males have 1-3 enlarged suckers on each arm with their right third arm being hectocotylised and shorter than its opposite arm. There are stylets and these are non-mineralised. One to 3 enlarged suckers on all arms of males only. The ligula is of medium size with a short calamus. Their gills have 6‑8 lamellae per outer demibranch. Paroctopus lays small to medium-sized eggs which are on very short stalks and are attached singly in small clusters within the empty shells of gastropods and bivalves. They are uniformly coloured with little variation in pattern and they lack a patch and groove system. There is a faint frontal white spot complex. The integument lacks large primary papillae.[3]
The species of Paroctopus are distributed in the northeastern Pacific Ocean off Mexico and the Gulf of California and in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.[3]
Species
The following species are assigned to Paroctopus:[1]
Paroctopus araneoides * Taki, 1964
Paroctopus digueti (Perrier & Rochebrune, 1894)
Paroctopus mercatoris (Adam, 1937)
The species listed above with an asterisk (*) are taxon inquirendum and need further study to determine if they are valid species or synonyms.
References
Philippe Bouchet (2010). "Paroctopus Naef, 1923". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute.
C.G. Robson (1929). A monograph of the recent Cephalopoda based on the collections in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. Octopodinae. London. Vol. 1. British Museum (Natural History). p. 194.
Patrizia Jereb; Clyde F.E. Roper; Mark D. Norman; Julian K. Finn, eds. (2016). Cephalopds of the World An Annotated and illustrated catalogue of Cephalopods species known to date Volume 3 Octopods and Vampire Squids (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome. ISBN 9789251079898.
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