Abstract
Despite the Central Indo-Pacific (CIP) and the Indonesian Archipelago being a well-known region of coral reef biodiversity, particularly in the ‘Coral Triangle’, little published information is available on its zoantharians (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia). In order to provide a basis for future research on the Indo-Pacific zoantharian fauna and facilitate comparisons between more well-studied regions such as Japan and the Great Barrier Reef, this report deals with CIP zoantharian specimens in the Naturalis collection in Leiden, the Netherlands; 106 specimens were placed into 24 morpho-species and were supplemented with 88 in situ photographic records from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. At least nine morpho-species are likely to be undescribed species, indicating that the region needs more research in order to properly understand zoantharian diversity within the CIP. The Naturalis’ zoantharian specimens are listed by species, as well as all relevant collection information, and in situ images are provided to aid in future studies on zoantharians in the CIP.
Highlights
Zoantharians (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) are a common component of benthos in subtropical and tropical coral reef systems, with many zooxanthellate species found in shallow waters of both the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans
This lack of knowledge is due to a variety of reasons, including (1) high levels of intraspecific morphological variation hindering reliable identification (Burnett et al 1997, Reimer et al 2004), (2) problems in performing histological examinations owing to sand being incorporated in the body walls of many zoantharian species (Reimer et al 2010), and (3) a confused taxonomic history as different researchers tried to properly classify and understand zoantharian diversity (Burnett et al 1997, Reimer et al 2004, Sinniger et al 2005)
The present study addresses this lack of Central Indo-Pacific (CIP) zoantharian data via examinations of specimen collections housed in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands: RMNH and ZMA
Summary
Zoantharians (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) are a common component of benthos in subtropical and tropical coral reef systems, with many zooxanthellate species found in shallow waters of both the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. Common understanding of zoantharian species diversity is relatively poor when compared to the hard corals (Scleractinia) This lack of knowledge is due to a variety of reasons, including (1) high levels of intraspecific morphological variation hindering reliable identification (Burnett et al 1997, Reimer et al 2004), (2) problems in performing histological examinations owing to sand being incorporated in the body walls of many zoantharian species (Reimer et al 2010), and (3) a confused taxonomic history as different researchers tried to properly classify and understand zoantharian diversity (Burnett et al 1997, Reimer et al 2004, Sinniger et al 2005). Whereas zoantharian supraspecific taxonomy and diversity is increasingly well understood, many problems remain at the species level (Reimer et al 2007b), and total species diversity of zoantharians is still poorly known (Appeltans et al 2012)
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