Leptopenus hypocoelus Moseley, 1881

Cairns, Stephen D., Häussermann, Verena & Försterra, Günter, 2005, A review of the Scleractinia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) of Chile, with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 1018 (1), pp. 15-46 : 20

Leptopenus hypocoelus Moseley, 1881

Leptopenus hypocoelus . Moseley, 1881: 208, pl. 14, figs. 5–6. — Cairns, 1977: 88–89, figures. — Keller, 1977: fig. 1. — Piñón, 1999: 19, 79 (listed). — Bonilla & Pinon, 2002: 38 (listed).

Remarks. —This species is known from only one specimen, the holotype, collected at Challenger 299: 33°31'S, 74°43'W (off Valparaiso, Chile) at 3949 m. The specimen is glued to a glass slide and deposited at the British Museum. It is arguably the most delicate and beautiful coral skeleton of all Scleractinia, the genus name, Leptopenus , literally translating to “delicate web”. The species has been described only by Moseley (1881), but was subsequently illustrated by Cairns (1977). It is among the deepest living scleractinian corals and certainly one of the rarest in the order.