Trachylinae

Trachymedusae belong to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa. The Trachymedusae include five families, among which are 30 genera and around 50 species in all. The family Rhopalonematidae has the greatest diversity.

Limnomedusae is an order of hydrozoans.

Narcomedusae is an order of hydrozoans in the subclass Trachylinae. Members of this order do not normally have a polyp stage. The medusa has a dome-shaped bell with thin sides. The tentacles are attached above the lobed margin of the bell with usually a gastric pouch above each. There are no bulbs on the tentacles and no radial canals. Narcomedusans are mostly inhabitants of the open sea and deep waters. They can be found in the Mediterranean in large numbers. Narcomedusae are essential to the ecosystem as they are top-down regulators for the midwater environment.

Actinulida are an order of hydrozoans in the subclass Trachylinae. Very small, medusoid Hydrozoa without polyp phase, living in the sand interstitial, solitary, bell entirely or very much reduced, epidermis ciliated, 1-2 whorls of tentacles, statocysts present or not, club shaped and derived of ecto- and entodermal tissue; cnidome may include stenoteles.

Trachylinae (also Trachylina, Trachylinida, etc.) is a subclass of hydrozoans. It is placed at order rank in many older classifications, and limited to contain the Narcomedusae, Trachymedusae, the Actinulidae, then considered an independent order, and also the Limnomedusae which were traditionally placed in the paraphyletic "Hydroida". It is not entirely clear whether the Limnomedusae and the Trachymedusae as conventionally circumscribed are monophyletic