Bathycyathus chilensis Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848

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 : 23-24

Bathycyathus chilensis Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848

Figs. 1G–H

Bathycyathus chilensis Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848: 294–295 , pl. 9, fig. 5; Gay, 1854: 454–455. — Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857: 23. — Verrill, 1870: 539 (English translation of description of Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848). — Philippi, 1892: 8–9, pl. 2, figs. 3a–c. — Wells, 1936: 102–103. — Andrade, 1987: 78 (listed). — Piñón, 1999: 20, 80 (listed).

Bathycyathus Indicus Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848: 295 , pl. 9, fig. 4; 1857: 23.

New Records. — Anton Bruun 12­ MV65 IV58 (33°38.2'S, 78°56.6'W), Isla Róbinson Crusoe, depth unknown, 14 Dec 1965, 8 corallites , USNM 100706 ; Anton Bruun 12 ­ MV65 IV63 (33°41.2'S, 78°57'W), depth unknown, 15 Dec 1965, 8 corallites , USNM 100707 ; Anton Bruun 12­135 (33° 34.3°S, 78°54.9'W), 160–180 m, 14 Dec 1965, 26 corallites , USNM 100708 ; Anton Bruun 12 ­ MV65 IV47 (33°37.5'S, 78°40.7'W), depth unknown, 12 Dec 1965, 3 corallites , USNM 100709 ; Anton Bruun 12­65240 (33°37'18"S, 78°50'20"W), 26–29 m, 12 Dec 1965, 3 corallites , USNM 100710 ; Anton Bruun 12 ­ MV65 IV45 (33°37'S, 78°50'50"W), depth unknown, 12 Dec 1965, 1 dead corallite , USNM 1021981 ; “ East side of Juan Fernández Islands ”, depth unknown, 12 Dec 1926, large colony of 25 corallites , USNM 100711 ; 32°31'S, 71°36'W (off Papudo, Chile), 420 m, 9 corallites , MNHNS; Juán Fernández Island , 30 m, Dec 2002, large colony of 39 corallites, IZUA­CNI­0050 .

Remarks. — Bathycyathus chilensis was originally described from one specimen from “ Chile ” at an unspecified depth, and B. indicus was originally reputed to be from the Philippines, but Milne Edwards & Haime (1857) later indicated it was from Juan Fernández Islands at 80 fathoms (= 146 m). Wells (1936) made B. chilensis the type species of the genus, synonymized B. indicus with B. chilensis , and indicated that both type specimens were deposited at the Paris Museum. There is only one specific record of B. chilensis from the coast of Chile, reported herein from off Papudo at 420 m. The species is otherwise known only from off Isla Róbinson Crusoe of the Juan Fernández Islands at depths of 26– 180 m. As the records reported herein are the only subsequent to its original description, a short description follows.

The largest corallum (USNM 100711) is 13 cm wide and 9 cm tall ( Fig. 1I ), consisting of about 25 contiguous corallites, all united basally in a common coenosteum. The largest corallite is 31 x 18 mm in CD and 48 mm in height, although the largest calice is 34 mm in GCD. Calices are circular to highly elliptical in outline, with a GCD:LCD ranging from 1 to 3.4, the more elongate calices appearing to be a precursor to distomedial intratentacular budding, although extratentacular budding from the common basal coenosteum is more common. Costae are well developed, ridged, and separated from one another by deep intercostal grooves. The corallum is uniformly white. Septa are hexamerally arranged in five cycles (96 septa), the more elongate calices with pairs of S 6 in the end half­systems. Septal formula: S1–2>S3>4>>S5. S1–2, and their adjacent S5, are highly exsert (up to 3 mm), producing a lancetted calicular margin. S5 are quite small. The occurrence of pali and/or paliform lobes is quite variable. Some corallites have 12 distinct, but small, P3 positioned low in the fossa, but most corallites have no indication of P3 at all. P4 are much more common, often forming a crown of 24 discrete P4, but in many corallites the pali are reduced to little more than thickenings of the lower axial edges of the S4. The columella is usually a well­developed, elongate field of fascicular elements sitting low in the fossa, but occasionally it is absent, being crowded out by the lower axial edges of the S1– 4.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–B, Fungiacyathus pseudostephanus, USNM 80120, calicular and basal views, both x 2.3; C, Astrangia sp., USNM 1021962, x 3.4; D–E, Culicia stellata, USNM 1021978, stereo view of calice and detail of axial septal teeth, x 14, x 63, respectively; F, Culicia truncata, holotype, USNM 183, x 3.5; G–I, Bathycyathus chilensis (G, USNM 100707; H, USNM 100708; I, USNM 100711): G–H, calicular views, both x 1.9; I, colony, x 0.53. Scale bars for A–C, F–H = 5 mm; D = 1 mm; E = 0.1 mm; I = 2 cm.