Onkoisis, Lapointe & Watling, 2022

Lapointe, Abby & Watling, Les, 2022, Towards a revision of the bamboo corals (Octocorallia): Part 5, new genera and species of Keratoisididae from the Tasmanian deep sea, Zootaxa 5168 (2), pp. 137-157 : 148

Onkoisis new genus

Diagnosis. Axis internodes solid and massive near the colony base, nearly as wide as long becoming longer on the upper branches, side branches gently curving, occasionally with proximal node; polyps densely arranged with only a thin layer of coenenchyme, polyp body low and conical or tall and cylindrical, with needle or long rod sclerites more or less grouped longitudinally at the mesenterial insertions.

Type species. Keratoisis magnifica Dueñas, Alderslade & Sánchez, 2014

Etymology. The genus name is derived from Gr. onkos = bulk, mass + isis the stem group name.

Remarks. This genus characterizes clade H1 of Watling et al. (2022) ( Fig. 2 ). It has moderate support and is separated from the well-supported clade in which the type species of Keratoisis , K. grayi , resides. Morphologically, the shape and design of the polyp and arrangement of the sclerites differs considerably from that of K. grayi , which supports the erection of a separate genus for this species.

Included Species. O. magnifica ( Dueñas et al. 2014) , O. solitaria ( Grant, 1976) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Cladogram of the Keratoisididae modified from Watling et al. (2022). New taxa added in this paper are in bold lettering. Bootstrap values>50 are shown above the nodes and Bayesian probability values>0.5 are shown below the nodes. Major clades are referred to by the designation along the right side of the cladogram.