Bunga, Lau, Yee Wah & Reimer, James D., 2019

Lau, Yee Wah & Reimer, James D., 2019, A first phylogenetic study on stoloniferous octocorals off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, with the description of two new genera and five new species, ZooKeys 872, pp. 127-158 : 127

Genus Bunga gen. nov.

Type species.

Bunga payung sp. nov., by original designation and monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Colony with polyps connected through thin stolons, which are cylindrical in cross-section and loosely attached to hard substrate. Anthocodiae retract into clavate calyces, which do not retract into the stolon. Oral disk expanded to circular membrane, as is characteristic of arulids. Oral disk with eight shallow furrows running from intertentacular margin to mouth of polyp, dividing membrane into eight lobes. Distal two-thirds of tentacles extend from fused margins of oral membrane. Sclerites of anthocodiae are rods. Sclerites of calyx are table-radiates. Sclerites of stolon are fused table-radiates forming a sheet. Sclerites colourless. Zooxanthellate.

Remarks.

The main difference between type species Bunga payung gen. nov. et sp. nov., with Arula McFadden & Ofwegen, 2012 and Hana Lau et al., 2018 is found in both polyp morphology and sclerites; the outer margins of the oral membrane are much less pronounced than seen in Arula and Hana , as well as the lobes, as the furrows appear to be shallower. The 6-radiate sclerite type could not be found in any of the Bunga gen. nov. specimens, which are present in the polyp calyx of both Arula and Hana . Bunga , similar to Hana , has fused table-radiates that form a sheet in the stolon.

Etymology.

From the Malaysian and Indonesian word bunga, meaning flower; denoting the shape of the polyps, which resemble flowers. Gender: feminine.