A Review of the Sipunculan Genus Thysanocardia Fisher

The taxonomy of the sipunculan taxon Thysanocardia Fisher is reviewed. Originally erected as a subgenus of Golfingia Lankester, the status of Thysanocardia is here elevated to the level of a genus. Of the 17 species currently recognised within this genus, most of which were originally described from single specimens, only three are considered sufficiently distinct as to warrant specific status, namely T. catherinae (Grube), T. procera (Möbius) and T. nigra (Ikeda). T. catherinae is the most widespread of these species being distributed in the western North Atlantic, South Atlantic and western Indian Ocean, whilst T. procera is confined to the north-eastem region of the North Atlantic and T. nigra chiefly to the North Pacific Ocean.