Virgularia presbytes Bayer, 1955

Devictor, Susan T. & Morton, Steve L., 2010, Identification guide to the shallow water (0 - 200 m) octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight 2599, Zootaxa 2599 (1), pp. 1-62 : 57

Virgularia presbytes Bayer, 1955

( Figure 50 )

Virgularia spec. Deichmann, 1936:274 .

Virgularia presbytes Bayer, 1955:295 ; Figs. 1 , 2 a–e .— Bayer 1958:379.— Bayer 1961:306; Fig. 97.— Cairns et al. 2002:36.

Material examined. SERTC S2125 , 19.5 m, off Edisto Island , South Carolina, April 29, 2005 . SERTC S2508 , 19.5 m, off Edisto Island , South Carolina, April 29, 2005 . SERTC S2513 , 31.1 m, off Folly Island , South Carolina, April 28, 2005 . SERTC S 2711, 36 m, off Charleston Harbor , South Carolina, June 2, 2004 .

Remarks. Virgularia presbytes maintains a rigid, pen-like colony shape that has overlapping, fleshy leaves comprised of numerous autozooids, fused at the base in a fan-like manner. On the ventral side, the edges of the leaves are arranged in an imbricating manner, but they do not touch dorsally where they leave a very distinct bare track with a medial groove. The presence of the autozooids causes the leaves to appear heavily ridged. Between the leaves are small siphonozooids in multiple rows, visible only when the larger leaves are lifted to expose the rachis. The axis is white, rigid and becomes flattened towards the base. V. presbytes usually lacks spiculation.

Atlantic distribution: North Carolina to Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, and Brazil, 9–91 m ( Bayer 1955; Bayer 1959b; Bayer 1961; NMNH collections; SERTC collection).

Figures

FIGURE 1. The South Atlantic Bight, which includes coastal waters between Cape Hatteras and Cape Canaveral, USA. The 200 m isobath is shown.

FIGURE 2. Branching colony forms; a) dichotomous (Iciligorgia schrammi); b) monopodial (Telesto sp.); c) whip-like branches (Leptogorgia virgulata); d) rod-like branches (Titanideum frauenfeldii); e) open, irregularly pinnate (Muricea pendula) f) planar (Leptogorgia hebes); g) lobed, with clusters of polyps (Pseudodrifa nigra).

FIGURE 50. Virgularia presbytes, preserved specimens (S2125); A, showing polyp leaves and autozooids (scale bar = 5 mm); B, showing dorsal track; C, whole colony (length approximately 15 cm).