Species
This family is taxonomically misunderstood. With many species represented by single, damaged, and juvenile specimens, this group is still creating controversy in the taxonomic community. Salcedo-Vargas and Okutani (1994) reclassified the family and eliminated the genus Echinoteuthis, added two subgenera, and reduced the number of species to eight. Three years later, after the careful examination of skin tubercles and photophores, Salcedo-Vargas eliminated his subgenera, and increased the number of species to 17 (Salcedo-Vargas, 1997).
- Genus Idioteuthis
- Idioteuthis latipinna
- Idioteuthis cordiformis
- Idioteuthis hjorti
- Idioteuthis okutanii
- ?Idioteuthis danae
- ?Idioteuthis famelica
- Idioteuthis tyroi
- Genus Mastigoteuthis
- Mastigoteuthis agassizii
- Mastigoteuthis atlantica
- Mastigoteuthis dentata
- ? Mastigoteuthis flammea
- Mastigoteuthis glaukopis
- Mastigoteuthis grimaldii
- Mastigoteuthis inermis
- Mastigoteuthis iselini
- Mastigoteuthis magna
- Mastigoteuthis microlucens
- Mastigoteuthis psychrophila
- Mastigoteuthis pyrodes
- ? Mastigoteuthis schmidti
The question mark (?) indicates questionable placement within the genus. The specific arrangement of the species under Idioteuthis indicates 4 different subgroups under revision. I. famelica is now verified to be member of genus Mastigoteuthis.
Read more about this topic: Whip-lash Squid
Famous quotes containing the word species:
“Single-mindedness is all very well in cows or baboons; in an animal claiming to belong to the same species as Shakespeare it is simply disgraceful.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Let us guard against saying that death is opposed to life. The living is merely a species of the dead, and a very rare species.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)