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 : 411-412

Swiftia sp.

Material examined. MZUCR 2772 , AD 4927-1, SIO-BIC Co2969, ethanol preserved, Seamount 1, 2270 m, HOV Alvin, Dive 4927, pilot Jefferson Grau, 10 June 2017 . MZUCR 2773 , SIO-BIC Co3046, ethanol preserved, Seamount 1, 2089 m, HOV Alvin, Dive 4983, pilot Jefferson Grau, 29 October 2018 .

Diagnosis. Colony subflabellete, branching irregularly pinnate and in one plane. Main stem up to 2.8 mm, branchlets thin, 0.5–1.7 mm in diameter. Coenenchyme thin, with predominance of spindles in outer layer. Spindles with scarce warts and ornamentation, up to 0.18 mm long, and tubercularte radiates up to 0.12 mm long. Polyp mounds prominent, 1.5–2.23 mm tall, and 1.5–2 mm wide and well spaced, about 4–5 polyps/cm. Anthocodial armature strong, ¨en chevron¨ with bar-like rods, up to 0.2 mm long, and with warty clubs up to 0.12 mm long.

Sclerites colour pale orange. Colony colour brownish red.

Remarks. The phylogeny shows that this species matches sequences from GenBank for what is called S. simplex from the NE Pacific ( Everett et al. 2016). However, the morphology does not match S. simplex sensu Nutting 1909 (Breedy pers. obs). Therefore, further work is needed on the NE Pacific Swiftia species to resolve this problem and we leave the specimen simply as Swiftia sp.