Abstract
In this study, three new species of macrocnemic zoantharians (Hexacorallia, Zoantharia) are described from localities in the Indo-Pacific Ocean including the Red Sea, the Maldives, Palau, and southern Japan: Antipathozoanthus obscurus sp. n., A. remengesaui sp. n., and A. cavernus sp. n. Although the genus Antipathozoanthus is currently restricted to species living on antipatharians, A. obscurus sp. n. is not associated with any living substrate and instead is found on coral reef carbonate substrate within narrow caves or cracks. The two new species that have association with antipatharians, A. remengesaui sp. n. and A. cavernus sp. n., can be distinguished by their relative coenenchyme development and the antipatharian species that each uses as substrate. Additionally, all new species described in this study have unique nuclear internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA (ITS-rDNA) sequences. Our results indicate that more phylogenetic studies focusing on increasing the numbers of species examined within each of the genera of Parazoanthidae are required in order to better understand the evolutionary history of substrate specificity within the family Parazoanthidae.
Highlights
Zoantharia Rafinesque, 1815 is the third most speciose order within the subclass Hexacorallia Haeckel, 1896
Four of five formally described species grow mainly on antipatharians, but this character is not exclusive to all species in the genus as A. obscurus sp. n. is not associated with any host organism
Results of the current study showed that A. obscurus sp. n. is clearly placed within this genus according to cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S-rDNA sequence analyses
Summary
Zoantharia Rafinesque, 1815 is the third most speciose order within the subclass Hexacorallia Haeckel, 1896. Within Macrocnemina, the largest family is Parazoanthidae Delage & Hérouard, 1901, which currently contains 13 genera (Low et al 2016) Most species of these genera live in association with other marine invertebrates, including antipatharians (Ocaña and Brito 2003; Sinniger et al 2010), octocorals (Reimer et al 2008; Bo et al 2012; Sinniger et al 2013), and sponges (Haddon and Shackleton 1891; Swain and Wulff 2007; Montenegro et al 2015, 2016). As a consequence of these studies, nine genera within Parazoanthidae have been described since 2008 and another genus, Bergia Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860, has been resurrected Key to this new taxonomic framework is the idea initially proposed by Sinniger et al (2005, 2010) that different parazoanthid genera share long evolutionary histories with the associated marine invertebrates they use as substrates
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