Acropora, Oken, 1815

Wallace, Carden C., Done, Barbara J. & Muir, Paul R., 2012, Revision and catalogue of worldwide staghorn corals Acropora and Isopora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) in the Museum of Tropical Queensland, Memoirs of the Queensland Museu Nature 57, pp. 1-258 : 212

Acropora tenella (Brook, 1892)

( Fig. 104 )

Madrepora tenella Brook, 1892: 464; 1893: 193, pl. 29 fig. E

Type locality. Macclesfield Bank, South China Sea (lectotype NHM).

MTQ Holdings. Indonesia: G56515, G59383 Sulawesi; G60744, G61226–27, G61254, G57096–97, G57107, G57111 Irian Jaya; Palau: G56875, G56915; Papua New Guinea: G39798, G53257, G61427; Micronesia: G62448–58, G62584–85 Pohnpei.

Species group: elegans.

Description. Colony outline: determinate, predominantly plate. Branches: tertiary branching order absent; length: 25–50 mm; diameter: <2.5 mm, 50/50 axial/radial, terete; radial crowding: not touching; axial/radial ratio: <1:10. Axial corallites: two synapticular rings; not porous; outer diameter 1.4–1.6 mm; inner diameter 0.5–0.8 mm; primary septa to ½ R. Radial corallites: small; two synapticular rings; one size or graded; inner wall developed; shape: tubular; openings: oval-rounded; primary septa absent. Coenosteum: same on and between radials: dense spinules; spinule shape: elaborate.

Further literature. Nishihira & Veron (1995), Wallace & Wolstenholme (1998), Wallace (1999), Veron (2000), Turak & DeVantier (2011).

Figures

FIG. 104. Acropora tenella, G62458, Pohnpei lagoon, Micronesia, 2010. (photo: P. Muir). Map of documented distribution: blue squares = MTQ specimens; pink squares = literature records; orange diamonds = type localities (where given), including primary synonyms.