No abstract

Many supraspecific zoantharian names have long and complicated histories. The present list is provided to advise researchers on the current state of supraspecific nomenclature of the zoantharians, particularly given the recent attention paid to the taxonomy, phylogeny, and biodiversity of this order. At the same time, several taxonomic issues brought to light by recent research are resolved. Details on the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of most groups are provided, along with appendices of invalid supraspecific names.

The identities, authorship and/or spellings of three genusand three family-group names in the order Zoantharia (=Zoanthidea), are clarified. Palythoa axinellae Schmidt, 1862, is designated as the type species of Heterozoanthus Verrill,1870, making this genus-group name an objective synonym of Parazoanthus Haddon & Shackleton, 1891, with prevailingusage of the latter maintained by a reversal of precedence. The family-group name Heterozoanthidae was inadvertentlyestablished by Pax & Müller (1956), and is a junior objective synonym of Parazoanthidae Delage & Hérouard, 1901. Thegenusand family-groups names Mardoell and Mardoellidae (both established by Danielssen 1890) are respectivesynonyms of Epizoanthus Gray, 1867, and Epizoanthidae Delage & Hérouard, 1901, with prevailing usage of the last-named family-group conserved by a reversal of precedence. The genus-group name Mardoellia Blanchard, 1893, is anunjustified emendation and objective synonym of Mardoell Danielssen, 1890. Rafinesque (1815) and not Gray (1832, 1840) is the author of the family-group name Zoanthidae.

Lamouroux (1812: 360) established the genus-group name Palythoe, with the following diagnosis in French: “Palythoe […] P[olypiers] dendroïde rameux; axe presque toujours comprimé, recouvert d’une écorce trèsépaisse, en partie calcaire, parseméc de mammelous saillans, chacun terminé par une cellule polypifère”. This translates as: “A group dendroid in branching; almost always axially compressed, covered with very thick ectoderm, partly calcareous dotted with prominent bumps, each terminated by a polyp”.

Savigny (1811: pl. 2, figs. 1–4, caption) presented four species of zoanthids which he referred to as “Isaures fixées” in French (not Latin) in his work on cnidarians from Egypt. Audouin (1826: 229–231) later wrote the text to accompany Savigny’s (1811: pl. 2) plates, when the latter’s health failed (see Sherborn 1897: 287).