Under Construction

This is an archived version of a Tree of Life page. For up-to-date information, please refer to the current version of this page.

Holotype 48 mm ML, female. Deposited at ZISP.

Containing group: Histioteuthidae

Introduction

Histioteuthis cerasina appears to be rather common in Central and Eastern Pacific tropical waters.

Characteristics

1. Photophores
   1. Head photophores Type 2a (2 photophores in Midline Series, 3 in Basal Arm IV Row).
2. Suckers
   1. Rings on enlarged median suckers of manus with 30-35 equally small, sharp, narrow conical teeth in small squid and 40-60 teeth in large squid.

Comments

More details of the description can be found here.

Species of the corona-group are distinguished by the following characteristics:

1. Photophores
   1. Type 2 head-photophore pattern (e.g., 2 Midline Series photophores, 3 or 4 Basal Arm IV Row photophores and no rogue photophore) .
   2. Basal Row with 7 photophores.
   3. Right Basal Series present.
   4. Arms IV without separate series of compound photophores at arm tip.
   5. Compound photophores on anterior half of ventral mantle uniform in size.
2. Arms
   1. Suckers with smooth rings on arms I-III except at distal ends and occasionally on basal suckers.
   2. Suckers of arms IV with dentition.
3. Tubercles
   1. Absent

The following table compares differences among members of the corona-group. H. cerasina and H. corona are very similar but occupy different oceans.

Character	Photophores Arms IV No. of series	Suckers Dentition Manus, large
H. corona	3	33-38
H. berryi	4	28-34
H. cerasina	3	40-60

Except for the analysis of head photophores, this description is from Voss (1969) and Voss, et al. (1998).

Nomenclature

Voss et al. (1998) consider this taxon as the subspecies H. corona cerasina.

Life History

Mature males are unknown

Distribution

Geographic distribution

Type locality: Southeastern Pacific, 00°01'S, 84°59'W. H. cerasina is found in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, and the eastern southern tropical Pacific (Voss, et al., 1998).

References

Voss, N. A. 1969. A monograph of the Cephalopoda of the North Atlantic: The family Histioteuthidae. Bull. Mar. Sci., 19: 713-867.

Voss, N. A., S. J. Stephen and Zh. Dong. 1992. Family Histioteuthidae. p. 73-91. In: Sweeney, M. J., C. F. E. Roper, K. M. Mangold, M. R. Clarke and S. V. Boletzky (eds.). "Larval" and juvenile cephalopods: a manual for their identification. Smithson. Contr. Zool., No. 513: 1-282.

Voss, N.A., K. N. Nesis, P. G. Rodhouse. 1998. The cephalopod family Histioteuthidae (Oegopsida): Systematics, biology, and biogeography. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 586(2): 293-372.