Swiftia, Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864

Breedy, Odalisca, Rouse, Greg W., Stabbins, April, Cortés, Jorge & Cordes, Erik E., 2019, New records of Swiftia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Octocorallia) from off the Pacific Costa Rican margin, including a new species from methane seeps, Zootaxa 4671 (3), pp. 407-419 : 412-413

Key to Swiftia species reported from California, USA to Chile

(based on Nutting 1909, Breedy et al. 2015, Williams and Breedy 2016)

1a. Colony unbranched (flagelliform, whip-like) or Y–shaped..................................................... 2

1b. Colony multiple-branched.............................................................................. 3

2a. Colony white; polyp mounds low (less than 1 mm tall), wider than tall; coenenchymal sclerites without plates............................................................................. S. farallonesica Williams and Breedy, 2016

2b. Colony pink; polyp mounds slightly raised (more than 1 mm tall), taller than wide; coenenchymal sclerites with plates.................................................................................... S. simplex ( Nutting, 1909)

3a. Colony flabellate, densely branched...................................................................... 4

3b. Colony sparsely branched.............................................................................. 6

4a. Colony irregularly pinnate; polyp-mounds prominent (more than 1.5 mm tall) and sparsely spaced (more than 2 mm)..... 5

4b. Colony mostly dichotomous; polyp-mounds slightly raised (less than 1.5 mm tall) and closely spaced (less than 1.5 mm)................................................................................ S. spauldingi ( Nutting, 1909)

5a. Colony red with deep-red polyp mounds; branches not anastomosing, branching irregularly pinnate, polyp mounds more than 2.5 mm apart..................................................................... S. kofoidi ( Nutting, 1909)

5b. Colony dark purplish red; branches frequently anastomosing in a lose reticulation, polyp-mounds less than 2.5 mm apart................................................................................... S. torreyi ( Nutting, 1909)

6a. Branches dropping and flexible, anthocodiae with naked neck zone; outer coenenchyme and polyp-mound rims without plates, mostly composed of spindles.................................................. S. comauensis Breedy et al., 2015

6b. Branches stout, anthocodiae with plates at neck zone; outer coenenchyme and polyp-mound rim with plates and spindles........................................................................................ S. sahlingi sp. nov.