Marmara, Ocaña & Çinar, 2018

Ocaña, Oscar & Çinar, Melih Ertan, 2018, Descriptions of two new genera, six new species and three new records of Anthozoa (Cnidaria) from the Sea of Marmara, Journal of Natural History 52 (35 - 36), pp. 2243-2282 : 2245-2246

Marmara gen. nov.

Diagnosis

Sagartiidae without suckers or tenaculi, with strong endodermic musculature along column. Visible and conspicuous muscular belts along column and capitulum. Sphincter mesogloeal mainly present in upper part of column.

Type species

Marmara musculata sp. nov.

Etymology

The generic name refers to the type locality, Sea of Marmara .

Remarks

The absence of suckers on the body wall represents a close affinity of this new genus with the genera Sagartianthus Carlgren 1943 ; Artemidactis Stephenson 1918 , Actinothoe Fischer 1889 and Anthothoe Carlgren 1938 . However, unlike the other genera, the genus Marmara gen. nov. has c

onspicuous muscular belts of endodermic musculature along the column, which is a peculiar anatomical feature only known in this genus. In the contracted/relaxed stages of the type species Marmara musculata sp. nov., two well differentiated areas are formed along the body: the upper part has tentacles and pharynx, constituting a bud-like structure; the stalk part includes the rest of the column, forming a long and cord-like structure, which has never been recorded in any Actiniaria before (see, Carlgren 1949) ( Figures 2 (d) and 3(c)). This amazing differentiation is possibly due to the burrowing habit displayed by this new species. This morphology looks like an extraordinary adaptation to sandy bottoms to elongate the column and extend its mouth to ambient water while the base is still in the burrow. We failed to identify the scapulus, but cannot assure the absence of such structure due to the retraction stage of the material; scapulus is present in the other closely related genera ( Sagartianthus , Artemidactis ).

Figures

Figure 2. Marmara musculata sp. nov. (a–d) Retracted and protruded fixed specimens showing characteristic colour pattern and external morphology. Scale bar: 5 mm.