Ancistrocheirus pallida ( Pfeffer, 1884 )

Arnold, Sam, Nos, David, Sáez-Liante, Raquel & Fernández-Álvarez, Fernando Á., 2025, Diversity in the squid family Ancistrocheiridae and description of a new family of the order Oegopsida (Cephalopoda), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (3) : -

Ancistrocheirus pallida ( Pfeffer, 1884)

Synonym: Enoploteuthis pallida Pfeffer, 1884 .

Holotype: ZMH not extant (Guerrero-Kommritz, pers. comm.).

Type locality: South Atlantic Ocean.

Remarks: The photophore pattern depicted by Pfeffer (1884) is characteristic of the genus Ancistrocheirus . However, the original description does not provide specific information on the morphological characters that are relevant to differentiate members of the family Ancistrocheiridae . One departure from other descriptions is the presence of longer suckers with teeth at the end of the dactylus. According to Jürger Guerrero-Kommritz (pers. comm.), the holotype was probably destroyed during the Second World War bombings in 1943 ( Guerrero-Kommritz 2001). It is not possible to directly link any of the Ancistrocheirus cryptic species discovered through molecular methods to this name at present, but the best candidate so far is Ancistrocheirus sp. 5 , as the specimens were collected in South Africa.