Proboscidactylidae Hand & Hendrickson, 1950

Wang, Xuefeng, Lin, Kun, Xu, Zhenzu, Guo, Donghui & Huang, Jiaqi, 2019, Some new Hydroidomedusa (Cnidaria) from the northern South China Sea, Zoological Systematics 44 (3), pp. 191-205 : 197

Family Proboscidactylidae Hand & Hendrickson, 1950

Proboscidactylidae Hand & Hendrickson, 1950: 74 ; Bouillon et al., 2006: 199; Schuchert, 2009: 456–457; Xu et al., 2014: 334. Willsiadae Forbes, 1848: 17, 19.

Diagnosis. The family is diagnosed by: medusa umbrella mostly hemispherical; with numerous exumbrellar cnidocyst clusters or bands alternating with tentacles; manubrium base with four, six or more radial gastric lobes, extending along proximal portions of radial canals, lobes in some species inconspicuous; radial canals branched, obliterated canals sometimes present; usually no circular canal but with a solid endodermal marginal strand; gonads surrounding manubrium and extending onto gastric lobes; tentacles hollow, with swollen hollow base connected to the lumen of radial canals.

Remarks. The family was original reported as Willsiadae Forbes, 1848 for Willsia stellata Forbes, 1946 ( Forbes, 1846, 1848). In 1950, Hand & Hendrickson suggested that the family name should be changed to Proboscidactylidae because its type genus Willsia Forbes, 1846 was synonymized by Proboscidactyla (Uchida & Okuda, 1941) . Then, the specific name Proboscidactylidae was well used (e.g. Russell, 1953; Kramp, 1961). The family current comprises a single genus, Proboscidactyla ( Bouillon et al., 2006; Schuchert, 2009).