Three new species of the sea fan genus Muricea (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Plexauridae) from the northwest region of Mexico

By

Hernández, Osvaldo
Gómez-Gutiérrez, Jaime
Galván-Tirado, Carolina
Sánchez Ortiz, Carlos A.,

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1169

Pages

333--352

Subjects

Baja California , Gulf of California , Malacalcyonacea , mtMutS , species-groups , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1169.89651

 

Abstract

Twenty-one nominal species ofMuriceahave been reported in the Eastern Pacific with nine of them reported in the Mexican Pacific. We describe three new species ofMuricea: Muricea ambaraesp. nov.andMuricea cacaosp. nov., from rocky reefs on the central and the northern Gulf of California and the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, andMuricea molinaisp. nov., from the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur.Muricea ambaraesp. nov.andM. cacaosp. nov.are taxonomically allied to the nominal speciesMuricea fruticosaVerrill, 1869 due to the morphological similarity of colony growth patterns and the phylogenetic closeness based on the mitochondrial MutS gene (mtMutS); but differ mainly in the calyx form and composition of sclerites. The main morphological differences between the newMuriceaspecies are in their sclerite forms and color;M. ambaraesp. nov.has orange-colored colonies, thin leaf spindles and tuberculated blunt spindles, whileM. cacaosp. nov.has dark brown colored colonies, strong spinous spindles and an absence of tuberculated blunt spindles.Muricea molinaisp. nov.is phylogenetically close and morphologically similar toMuricea squarrosaVerrill, 1869 in the growth form of the colony and tubular calyces; but has dark brown colored colonies and has calyces from the base to the branch tips. With these three new species, the total number ofMuriceaspecies reported in the Mexican northwest region increases to twelve and a total of 24 nominal species in the Eastern Pacific.