Genus Parastephanellus Enderlein, 1906
This genus was first proposed as Parastephanus (Enderlein, 1905), including species from the
Indo-Australian as well as the Neotropical regions. It was later changed to Parastephanellus
(Enderlein 1906) because the original name was preoccupied by Haeckel for Protozoa. Enderlein
also transfered the Neotropical species to a new genus, Hemistephanus. Most
Parastephanellus
specimens can be still recognized by Enderlein's original diagnosis, and thus seem to form a
considerably stable genus. Although some species can be eventually confounded with
Hemistephanus, the geographic distribution of the two groups are distinct enough to prevent such
mistake with labelled specimens. However, whether Hemistephanus is trully related to
Parastephanellus or not has never been proved, and the monophyly of the genus
Parastephanellus itself was never assessed.
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This page last updated: 19 March, 1998.
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| Alexandre Pires Aguiar |