Discosoma spec. Photo Ron Ates.
County of origin unknown.
Corallimorpharia of small or ordinary size. Column without longitudinal muscles. Sphincter absent or weak diffuse. Tentacles without acrospheres, simple or dendritic, sometimes rudimentary, arranged in radial rows at least over the endocoels, sometimes also over the exocoels, usually distinctly divisible into marginal and discal tentacles. One, or rarely, more mouths. Actinopharynx with high ridges. Siphonoglyphs, if present, indistinct. Muscles of mesenteries weak. Mesogloea principally homogenous but with cells sometimes also with cell-islets containing holotrichous nematocysts. Spirocysts very rare or usually absent.
Definitions and contained taxa are those of Oscar Carlgren as published in 1949 : Kungl Svenska Vetenskapsakadamiens Handlingar, Series 4, Volume 1, Number 1
Electronic version made possible by NSF grant DEB95-21819 in the PEET program to D. G. Fautin.