Virgulariidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

sea pens Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea. There are 14 families within the order; 35 extant genera, and it is estimated that of 450 described species, around 200 are valid. Sea pens have a cosm ...

, a member of the subclass

Octocorallia Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans ...

in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature f ...

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...

Characteristics

Colonies are bilateral, long and slender to very slender. The colony axis is noticeable and present throughout.Williams G.C., 1990: The Pennatulacea of southern Africa (Coelenterata, Anthozoa). Annals Of The South African Museum. 99(4): 31-119.

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

: *'' Acanthoptilum'' Kölliker, 1870 *'' Grasshoffia'' Williams, 2015Williams, G. (2015
''A new genus and species of pennatulacean octocoral from equatorial West Africa (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Virgulariidae)''.

ZooKeys ''ZooKeys'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. It was established in 2008 and the editor-in-chief is Terry Erwin (Smithsonian Institution). It is published by Pensoft Publ ...

546, 39-50 *'' Scytaliopsis'' Gravier, 1906 *'' Scytalium'' Herklots, 1858 *'' Stylatula'' Verrill, 1864 *''

Virgularia ''Virgularia'' is a genus of sea pen in the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maint ...

'' Lamarck, 1816

References

Pennatulacea Cnidarian families {{Octocorallia-stub