Abstract
Several species of the family Xeniidae, previously assigned to the genus Cespitularia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 are revised. Based on the problematical identity and status of the type of this genus, it became apparent that the literature has introduced misperceptions concerning its diagnosis. A consequent examination of the type colonies of Cespitularia coerulea May, 1898 has led to the establishment of the new genus Conglomeratusclera gen. n. and similarly to the assignment of Cespitularia simplex Thomson & Dean, 1931 to the new genus, Caementabunda gen. n. Both new genera are described and depicted and both feature unique sclerite morphology, further highlighting the importance of sclerite microstructure for generic position among Xeniidae. Freshly collected material was subjected to molecular phylogenetic analysis, whose results substantiated the taxonomic assignment of the new genera, as well as the synonymies of several others.
Highlights
Members of the octocoral family Xeniidae form a major faunistic component on shallow Indo-Pacific coral reefs (e.g., Alderslade 2001, Janes 2013, McFadden et al 2014, Halàsz et al 2014, 2015)
The study examined preserved type specimens obtained on loan from the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH); Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN); Naturalis Biodiversity Center, formerly Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden (RMNH); Zoologisches Museum, Hamburg (ZMH); Zoologisches Museum Berlin (ZMB); Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC (USNM), and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University (ZMTAU)
The current results provide further support for the recent findings of McFadden et al (2017) who argue that the pinnule count used in the taxonomy of Xeniidae, explicitly in the genus Ovabunda, is not indicative of species boundaries
Summary
Members of the octocoral family Xeniidae form a major faunistic component on shallow Indo-Pacific coral reefs (e.g., Alderslade 2001, Janes 2013, McFadden et al 2014, Halàsz et al 2014, 2015). The majority of the described Xeniidae taxa have a high density of minute sclerites in their tissues, some have only a few or none (e.g., Halàsz et al 2014) This family has been considered to exhibit less diversity of sclerites than most other octocoral families, with the commonly held notion that most of the species feature relatively simple sclerites in the form of round platelets (Fabricius and Alderslade 2001). Hickson’s revision indicated that Quoy & Gaimard (1833) had provided errata, arguing that their original drawing of the two Cornularia species had been switched, and figs 1–4 should refer to C. subviridis and figs 5–7 to C. multipinnata. Examination of diverse, related museum material provided data on intraspecific variation and the zoogeographical distribution of the taxa
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