Astrogorgia fruticosa Namin & Ofwegen, 2009, n. sp

Autor: Namin, Samimi, Ofwegen, Van
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6220155
Popis: Astrogorgia fruticosa n. sp. (Figs. 7 a, 8) Material: Holotype, RMNH Coel. 38768, N of Hengam Island, washed ashore, coll. M. Hosein Pour Khalajani, 2006. Description. The holotype is a colony fragment with part of the holdfast still present. It has a bushy colony shape and anastomoses, the latter mostly situated in the lower part of the colony. The colony is 22 cm high and about 12 cm wide, the main stem is 0.5 cm wide and branching starts at 0.5 cm above the holdfast (Fig. 7 a). Polyps are situated all around the branches; calyces are about 1 mm high. Polyps are retracted; the collaret has 6���7 rows of spindles and the points have many sclerites. These sclerites do not differ much from those of the calyx, and are up to 0.25 mm long, with simple tubercles or spines (Fig. 8 a). Tentacle sclerites are similar to those of the points but slightly shorter, more flattened and less tuberculate (Fig. 8 b). The surface layer of the coenenchyme has spindles up to 0.60 mm long; with simple or complex tubercles (Fig. 8 c���d). The interior of the coenenchyme has capstans and rods, up to 0.10 mm long, with simple tubercles (Fig. 8 e). Colour. Colony red, tentacle sclerites yellow, point sclerites partly yellow partly reddish; all other sclerites are reddish. Etymology. The Latin ��� fruticosa ���, bushy or full of bushes, refers to the colony form. Remarks. Only three other species of Astrogorgia have been reported having a bushy colony form, A. arborea (Thompson & Simpson, 1909) from India, A. mengalia Grasshoff, 1999 from New Caledonia and A. balinensis Hermanlimianto & Ofwegen, 2006 from Bali. A. arborea has spindles up to 3.5 mm long and in A. mengalia they are up to 1.3 mm long; both much longer than the 0.60 mm of the present species. On the other hand A. balinensis has much shorter spindles, up to 0.25 mm long. Moreover, A. fruticosa has anastomoses, the other three bushy species do not.
Published as part of Namin, Samimi & Ofwegen, Van, 2009, Some shallow water octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) of the Persian Gulf, pp. 1-52 in Zootaxa 2058 on page 12, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.186743
{"references":["Thomson, J. A. & Simpson J. J. (1909) An account of the alcyonarians collected by the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator in the Indian Ocean; with a report on the species of Dendronephthya by W. D. Henderson. II. The alcyonarians of the littoral area. Calcutta, The Indian Museum, i - xviii + 1 - 319.","Grasshoff, M. (1999) The shallow water gorgonians of New Caledonia and adjacent islands (Coelenterata: Octocorallia). Senckenbergiana biologica 78 (1 / 2), 1 - 245.","Hermanlimianto, M. I. Y. T. & Ofwegen, L. P. van (2006) A new species of Astrogorgia (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) from Bali. Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden 80 - 4 (10), 103 - 108."]}
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: