Callistoctopus

Callistoctopus is a genus of nocturnal, orange octopuses in the family Octopodidae.^[1] They are readily identifiable by their reddish coloring, the white papillae that line their bodies, and their long arms. Though sympatric with diurnal Octopus species, they avoid competition by hunting at night. In acknowledgement of this preference, many species of Callistoctopus are referred to as night octopuses. Well-known species include C. macropus (Atlantic white-spotted octopus) and the type species C. ornatus (ornate octopus), both of which are harvested for human consumption as seafood.

Callistoctopus
Illustration of Callistoctopus macropus by Comingio Merculiano, 1897
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Order:	Octopoda
Family:	Octopodidae
Genus:	Callistoctopus Iw. Taki, 1964
Type species
Callistoctopus arakawai (accepted as Callistoctopus ornatus) Taki, 1964
Species
See text.
Synonyms
Eledonenta Rochebrune, 1884

Species

• Callistoctopus bunurong (Stranks, 1990) – southern white-spot octopus^[2]
• Callistoctopus furvus (A. Gould, 1852)
• Callistoctopus gracilis Y. Tang, X.-D. Zheng & C.-C. Lu, 2024
• Callistoctopus lechenaultii (d'Orbigny, 1826)
• Callistoctopus luteus (Sasaki, 1929) – starry night octopus ^[3]
• Callistoctopus nocturnus (Norman & Sweeney, 1997)
• Callistoctopus paucilamellus Y. Tang, X.-D. Zheng & C.-C. Lu, 2024
• Callistoctopus rapanui (Voss, 1979)
• Callistoctopus sparsus Y. Tang, X.-D. Zheng & C.-C. Lu, 2024
• Callistoctopus tenuipes J.-H. Li, C-.X. Xu & X.-D. Zheng, 2022^[4][5]
• Callistoctopus xiaohongxu X.-D. Zheng, C.-X. Xu & J.-H. Li, 2022

Species brought into synonymy

^[6]

• Callistoctopus alpheus (Norman, 1993) – Capricorn night octopus^[7][2]: synonym of Pinnoctopus alpheus
• Callistoctopus arakawai (Taki, 1964): synonym of Callistoctopus ornatus (Gould, 1852)
• Callistoctopus aspilosomatis (Norman, 1993) – plainbody night octopus^[2]: synonym of Pinnoctopus aspilosomatis
• Callistoctopus dierythraeus (Norman, 1992) – red-spot night octopus^[7]: synonym of Pinnoctopus dierythraeus
• Callistoctopus graptus (Norman, 1993) – scribbled night octopus^[2]: synonym of Pinnoctopus graptus
• Callistoctopus macropus (Risso, 1826) – Atlantic white-spotted octopus: synonym of Pinnoctopus macropus^[8]
• Callistoctopus magnocellatus (Taki, 1964): synonym of Octopus cyanea Gray, 1849
• Callistoctopus ornatus (Gould, 1852) – ornate octopus^[9]: synonym of Pinnoctopus ornatus

Taxa inquirenda

• Callistoctopus taprobanensis (Robson, 1926) (nomen dubium)

Below is a maximum likelihood phylogeny of Callistoctopus based on mitochondrial COI genes:^[5]

	Vampyroteuthis infernalis
	Cistopus Octopus sinensis Octopus vulgaris Octopus cyanea Amphioctopus spp. Callistoctopus luteus Callistoctopus sp.1 Octopus minor Callistoctopus xiaohongxu Callistoctopus tenuipes Callistoctopus aspilosomatis Callistoctopus sp.4 Callistoctopus sp.3 Callistoctopus sp.2 Callistoctopus macropus Callistoctopus furvus Callistoctopus sp.5 Callistoctopus ornatus

External links

• CephBase: Callistoctopus