Quaternary corals (Scleractinia: Merulinidae) from the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea Coast

Abstract

This work provides a comprehensive description of the Scleractinian family Merulinidae (Verrill, 1865) of the Red Sea at species level based on skeletal structure for helping in evaluating and estimation of actual species diversity, as well as predicting their response to environmental changes. The present study is a first attempt to describe and illustrate the coral species of the family Merulinidae in the Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabian Coast). Moreover, coral reef terraces are investigated around El Quseir‐Marsa Alam area on the Egyptian Red Sea Coast. Overall, 42 scleractinian coral species from the family Merulinidae (Verrill, 1865) have been identified. They belong to 14 genera:Dipsastraea,Favites,Echinopora,Goniastrea,Coelastrea,Paragoniastrea,Paramontastraea,Astrea,Cyphastrea,Erythrastrea,Merulina,Platygyra,Leptoria, andHydnophora. About 37 species are recorded for the first time from the Farasan Islands and 26 species from El Quseir‐Marsa Alam area, among them three species are recognized as new records. Two species are added to coral communities of the Red Sea (Goniastrea favulusandParagoniastrea deformis), and six species were added to the fossil record of the Red Sea. The terminology, systematic classification, and the criteria of identification for all studied coral taxa are generally updated according to recent results. The known age and all recorded stratigraphic range of these species are illustrated and discussed. From the results, most of the corals are still living in the present Red Sea except for three species:Favites micropentagonus,Goniastrea favulus, andParagoniastrea deformis. All species are extended down to the Pleistocene and a few to the Pliocene and Miocene.