Belongs within: Coelenterata.
Contains: Lobata.
The Ctenophora, comb jellies, are a group of gelatinous marine animals characterised by bands of cilia (comb rows) running longitudinally down the body. Most ctenophores have eight such bands but some early fossil members of the group possessed greater numbers. One Cambrian group, the Scleroctenophora, possessed a skeleton of eight sclerotised radial struts (Ou et al. 2005).
Among modern taxa, most species possess paired tentacles though these are absent in members of the Beroidae. The Cestidae are strongly compressed in the tentacular plane and elongate in the stomodaeal plane, having a ribbon-like appearance.
Characters (Miller & Harley 1996, for crown group): Biradially symmetrical; diplobastic, with gelatinous mesogloea present between epidermal and gastrodermal tissue layers; gastrovascular canal system present; nervous system in form of nerve net; colloblasts (external adhesive cells) present; meridionally arranged ciliary bands (comb rows) present.
<==Ctenophora [Beroes]
| i. s.: Coeloplana astericolaPP15
| Euplokamis dunlapaePP15
| Dryodora glandiformisPP15
| Sinoascus palilatusC12
| Archeocydippida hunsreckiana Stanley & Sturmer 1987NS93
| Paleoctenophora brasseli Stanley & Sturmer 1983NS93
| Idia macrostomaG20
|--BeroeHMR01 [BeroidaOX15, Nuda]
| |--B. abyssicola Mortensen 1927HMR01
| |--‘Medusa’ beroe Linnaeus 1758 (n. d.)DB07
| |--B. cucumisPP15
| |--B. elongatus Risso 1826R26
| |--B. gracilisMS98
| |--B. ovataLGJ03
| `--B. pileusG20
`--+--+--XanioascusOX15
| |--Fasciculus vesanus Simonetta & Delle Cave 1978OX15, NS93
| `--+--Ctenorhabdotus capulusOX15, CM98
| `--ScleroctenophoraOX15
| |--Thaumactena Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| | `--*T. ensis Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| |--+--Galeactena Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| | | `--*G. hemispherica Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| | `--Maotianoascus Chen & Zhou 1997OX15
| | `--*M. octonarius Chen & Zhou 1997OX15
| `--+--Batofasciculus Hou et al. 1999OX15
| | `--*B. ramificans Hou et al. 1999OX15
| `--+--Gemmactena Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| | `--*G. actinala Ou, Xiao et al. 2015OX15
| `--Trigoides Luo & Hu 1999OX15
| `--*T. aclis Luo & Hu 1999OX15
`--+--+--CestusRO69 [CestidaOX15]
| | `--C. venerisRO69
| `--+--ThalassocalycidaOX15
| `--+--GaneshidaOX15
| `--LobataOX15
`--+--PlatyctenidaOX15
`--CypidippidaOX15
| i. s.: CallianiraH04
| |--C. antarcticaPO99
| |--C. bialataH04
| |--C. diplopteraG20
| `--C. triplopteraG20
|--PleurobrachiidaeOX15
| |--Hormiphora foliosaH04
| |--Lampetia pancerinaH04
| |--Minictena Carré & Carré 1993CC93
| | `--*M. luteola Carré & Carré 1993CC93
| `--PleurobrachiaPP15
| |--P. bacheiPP15
| `--+--P. atlanticaPP15
| `--P. pileusPP15
|--BathyctenaHMR01 [Bathyctenidae]
| `--B. chuni (Moser 1909)HMR01
|--Haeckelia [Haeckeliidae]OX15
| `--H. rubraOX15
|--LampeaMS98 [LampeidaeOX15]
| `--L. pancerina [incl. Gastrodes parasiticum]MS98
`--MertensiidaeOX15
|--Mertensia ovumB26
`--Tinerfe cyaneaH04
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B26] Bigelow, H. B. 1926. Plankton of the offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine. Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries 40 (2): 1–509.
[CC93] Carré, C., & D. Carré. 1993. Minictena luteola, genre et espèce nouveaux de cténophore Cydippida Méditerranéen a cinq types de colloblastes. Beaufortia 43 (10): 168–175.
[C12] Chen, J.-Y. 2012. Evolutionary scenario of the early history of the animal kingdom: evidence from Precambrian (Ediacaran) Weng’an and Early Cambrian Maotianshan biotas, China. In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 239–379. Springer.
[CM98] Conway Morris, S. 1998. The Crucible of Creation. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
[DB07] Daly, M., M. R. Brugler, P. Cartwright, A. G. Collins, M. N. Dawson, D. G. Fautin, S. C. France, C. S. McFadden, D. M. Opresko, E. Rodriguez, S. L. Romano & J. L. Stake. 2007. The phylum Cnidaria: a review of phylogenetic patterns and diversity 300 years after Linnaeus. Zootaxa 1668: 127–182.
[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.
[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.
[HMR01] Harbison, G. R., G. I. Matsumoto & B. H. Robison. 2001. Lampocteis cruentiventer gen. nov., sp. nov.: a new mesopelagic lobate ctenophore, representing the type of a new family (class Tentaculata, order Lobata, family Lampoctenidae, fam. nov.) Bulletin of Marine Science 68 (2): 299–311.
[LGJ03] Lee, S. E., R. D. Gates & D. K. Jacobs. 2003. Gene fishing: the use of a simple protocol to isolate multiple homeodomain classes from diverse invertebrate taxa. Journal of Molecular Evolution 56: 509–516.
[MS98] Margulis, L., & K. V. Schwartz. 1998. Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth 3rd ed. W. H. Freeman and Company: New York.
Miller, S. A., & J. P. Harley. 1996. Zoology 3rd ed. Wm. C. Brown Publishers: Dubuque (Iowa).
[NS93] Nudds, J. R., & J. J. Sepkoski Jr. 1993. Coelenterata. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 101–124. Chapman & Hall: London.
[OX15] Ou, Q., S. Xiao, J. Han, G. Sun, F. Zhang, Z. Zhang & D. Shu. 2015. A vanished history of skeletonization in Cambrian comb jellies. Science Advances 1: e1500092.
[PO99] Pagès, F., & C. Orejas. 1999. Medusae, siphonophores and ctenophores of the Magellan region. Scientia Marina 63 (Suppl. 1): 51–57.
[PP15] Pisani, D., W. Pett, M. Dohrmann, R. Feuda, O. Rota-Stabelli, H. Philippe, N. Lartillot & G. Wörheide. 2015. Genomic data do not support comb jellies as the sister group to all other animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 112 (50): 15402–15407.
[RO69] Riedl, R., & B. Ozretic. 1969. Hydrobiology of marginal caves. Part I. General problems and introduction. Internationale Revue ges. Hydrobiol. 54 (5): 661–683.
[R26] Risso, A. 1826. Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes maritimes vol. 5. F.-G. Levrault: Paris.