Narella

The name Narella is believed to be derived from the latin nares, meaning nostril, due to the resemblance of the rows of polyps to small noses.^[3]

The present understanding of Narella and its members was only established in the late 20th century. Prior to that, many members of Narella were categorized into other genera. While the genus itself was described in 1870 by John Edward Gray,^[4] the first species in the genus was described in 1860, Primnoa regularis (now recognized as Narella regularis).^[5] In 1887 several new species of Narella were discovered by Edward Wright and Théophile Studer, but were described as members of new genera Stachyodes and Calypterinus.^[6][7][8] Between 1906 and 1919 many new species of Narella were discovered, though many were described as members of Stachyodes or Calypterinus. It was only in 1951 that Frederick Bayer synonymized these genera with Narella, establishing the former as junior synonyms of the latter.^[9]

Narella is the most species-rich genus in Primnoidae.^[10] They are found worldwide, with species occurring in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands, the Indian Ocean, the Galápagos, and off the coast of Antarctica.^[11] While there have been a few species that are found in multiple regions, in general each region has a distinct group of sympatric species. This, along with Narella's high rate of adaptive radiation has led to researchers believing it to have many undiscovered species.^[3]