Taxon classification Animalia Helioporacea

Family Lithotelestidae Bayer & Muzik, 1977

Type genus.

Lithotelesto Bayer & Muzik, 1977 (junior synonym of Epiphaxum Lonsdale, 1850).

Diagnosis

(after Bayer and Muzik 1977; Lozouet and Molodtsova 2008, revised). Helioporacean octocoral with growth form of encrusting, stoloniferous or upright sparsely branched stems. Whole colony rigid with internal skeleton of crystalline aragonite. Polyps fully retractile. Sclerites may be present or absent; if present, capstans and crosses in form, composed of calcite.