Revision of the coral genus Acropora (Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina: Acroporidae) in Indonesia.

Abstract

The coral genus Acropora is reviewed from Indonesia for the first time, following detailed collections made at 131 sites and additional material collected from approximately 40 sites throughout the archipelago during the period 1993–6. Eighty‐three species are recorded, four of these (Acropora halmaherae, A. awi, A. plumosa and A. simplex) new to science, six first described in 1994 and six in 1997. Records are compared with specimen‐based records from localities worldwide. The species of Acrokora occurring in Indonesian waters include five recorded only from the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, seven recorded only from the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea and Indonesia, and a further 10 species apparently endemic to Indonesia, as well as widespread Indo‐Pacific species. Two species (A. jacquelineae Wallace, 1994 and A. batunai Wallace, 1996) are recorded only from north central Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and two species (A. russelli Wallace, 1994 and A. turaki Wallace, 1994) only from north central Indonesia and north western Australia. The findings contribute to a new view of the corals of the Indo‐Pacific ‘centre of diversity’ as a composite fauna with origins in a number of events in space and time.