Acropora japonica Veron, 2000

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 : 100

Acropora japonica Veron, 2000

( Fig. 48 )

Acropora japonica Veron, 2000 , vol. 1: 330; 2002: 53–55, figs 102–105.

Type locality. Honshu, Japan (IGPS-108946).

MTQ Holdings. G55861 PARALECTOTYPE. Japan: G62838–39, G62939.

Description. Colony outline: determinate, predominantly corymbose. Branches: tertiary branching order absent; length: <25 mm; diameter: 5.0–9.9 mm, axial-dominated, tapering; radial crowding: most touching; axial/radial ratio:>1:10. Axial corallites: three synapticular rings; porous; outer diameter 1.5–1.6 mm; inner diameter 0.6–0.9 mm; primary septa to 1/3 R. Radial corallites: medium; three synapticular rings; one size or graded; inner wall not developed; shape: appressed tubular; openings: ovalrounded; primary septa to 1/3 R. Coenosteum: different on and between radials: between radials:

reticulate, on radials: reticulo-costate; spinule shape: single point.

Taxonomic note. Veron (2 0 0 2) notes that this species is very similar to A. digitifera and may be a high-latitude form. Specimen IGPS-108946 at the Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Tohoku University, Japan, illustrated and described by Veron (2002: 53-55, figs 102, 103) as the 'holotype' (see discussion on p. 4 of the present work) is herein designated the lectotype of Acropora japonica , on the basis of Article 7 4.7 of the Fourth edition of the Code (ICZN 1999). Specimen MTQ-G55861, mentioned in Veron (2002: 55) is similarly designated a paralectotype.

Further literature: Nomura & Mezaki (2005)

Figures

FIG. 48. Acropora japonica, G62839, Kochi, Japan, 2009 (photo: P. Muir). Map of documented distribution: blue squares = MTQ specimens; pink squares = literature records; orange diamonds = type localities (where given), including primary synonyms.