The Taxonomy of the Salpidae (Tunicata) of the 
Central Pacific Ocean i 
James L. Yount 
INTRODUCTION 
Knowledge of the salps of the central 
Pacific Ocean is scanty as heretofore they 
have been studied only in conjunction with 
extensive collections ^ such as those of the 
"Challenger” and "Albatross” (Herdman, 
1888; Metcalf, 1918), from large areas. The 
present paper, which is limited to a discussion 
of taxonomy and morphology, is based on 
large collections that have recently become 
available. A further report on distribution and 
ecology is in preparation. 
Although much of the present paper is of 
necessity similar to previously published 
work, especially those portions describing 
muscle arrangement, the descriptions are 
based on original study unless otherwise 
stated. A new method of study for salps, also 
applicable to many other planktonic animals, 
was used and is here described. 
Species of the genus Salpa were arranged 
into a number of related subgenera by Met- 
calf (I 9 I 8 ) as follows: Cyclosalpa, Brooksia, 
Apsteinia, Salpa, Rifferia, Thetys, Pegea, Traus- 
tedtia, Thalia, and lash. Some of these names 
originated with earlier investigators. Because 
^ Contribution No. 53, Hawaii Marine Laboratory. 
A portion of a thesis submitted to the Department of 
Zoology and Entomology, University of Hawaii, in 
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree 
of Doctor of Philosophy, Manuscript received August 
6 , 1953. 
of prior usage, it was necessary to replace 
Ritteria by Ritteriella, and Apsteinia by Ihlea, 
which he did in 1919. All these subgenera 
were raised to the rank of genera by Ihle and 
Ihle-Landenberg (1933), who at the same 
time added the genus Metcalfina for Salpa 
hexagona Quoy and Gaimard, 1824. This 
classification is in general use today and is 
followed here, with the addition of the genera 
Helkosalpa (Todaro, 1902) for Cyclosalpa vir- 
gula Vogt, 1854, and C. komaii Ihle and Ihle- 
Landenberg, 1936 , and Weelia gen. nov., for 
Salpa cyltndfka Cuvier, 1804. In addition, the 
subfamilies Cyclosalpinae and Salpinae are 
newly recognized here. 
References included in the specific synon- 
omies are as inclusive as possible since 1912. 
Additional citations prior to that date are 
given in detail by Ihle (1912). Only a few of 
the older reports (previous to 1893) have been 
examined, thus all citations in the synonymies 
previous to 1912 have been taken from Ihle 
unless stated otherwise. 
Acknowledgments 
Dr. R. W. Hiatt suggested the study and 
has offered his help whenever needed. I wish 
to express my thanks for his patient criticism 
of the investigation in all aspects. I wish also 
to state my thanks to Dr. L. D. Tuthill who 
helped solve many problems of a systematic 
nature and criticized other aspects of the 
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