A new genus of soft coral of the family Alcyoniidae (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) with re-description of a new combination and description of a new species

By

Benayahu, Yehuda
McFadden, Catherine

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

84

Pages

1-11

Subjects

Alcyonacea , coral reefs , Gulf of Oman , Japan , Kenya , South Africa , Taiwan

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.84.781

 

Abstract

A new genus, Aldersladum (family Alcyoniidae), is established to accommodate a previously described species, Efflatounaria sodwanae Benayahu, 1993 (family Xeniidae) from Sodwana Bay, South Africa that was wrongly assigned to the latter genus. This species is redescribed and a second new species, A. jengi from Penghu Is., Taiwan, is described. The diagnostic features of the new genus include the presence of only figure-eight shaped platelets in all parts of the colony, thus differentiating it from all known genera of the Alcyoniidae. Based on examination of additional material from other localities, the zoogeographical distribution of the genus is confirmed to include the coral reefs of South Africa, Kenya, Gulf of Oman, Taiwan and Japan. Phylogenetic analyses of two mitochondrial genes strongly support its placement in the family Alcyoniidae.