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 : 124

Acropora microclados (Ehrenberg, 1834)

( Fig. 60 )

Heteropora microclados Ehrenberg, 1834: 109.

Madrepora assimilis Brook, 1892: 452; 1893: 85, pl. 20 fig. A.

Type locality. not recorded (lectotype MNB).

MTQ Holdings. Red Sea: G62981 Saudi Arabia; G54849 Eritrea; Mayotte: G63258, G63260, G63365; Seychelles: G59447, G59530; Maldives: G59776; Chagos: G51439; Thailand: G55890–91, G55979–81, G55985, G56436; Indonesia: G59184 Bali; G50600, G58641, G59086 Alor; G54251 Tukangbesi Islands; G50728 Seribu Is; G51073 Flores; G50929 Kalimantan; G47975, G50173, G50175, G50601–03, G50608, G50611, G54232–37, G57003 Sulawesi; G54239–40, G54248–50 Molucca Sea; G54238, G54241–47 Halmahera; G50598–99, G50606–0 7 Banda Sea; Australia: G41156 West; G51270 North; G29800–01, G29803, G29805–8, G30829, G30833–36, G30838–41, G57602, G57731, G58072, G58351, G59014, G59043, G60560, G62248, G64612, G64615 Great Barrier Reef; G30830, G58431, G58503, G64974, G64986 South–East; G30832, G60529, G63814 Coral Sea; South China Sea: G52190; Japan: G38053, G47788, G62307; Taiwan: G43854; Philippines: G32811; Palau: G56641–42, G60200, G61869; Guam: G53633; Papua New Guinea: G35640, G35644–45, G35676, G35681, G53433–39, G53518, G59107; Micronesia: G40720, G40777 Yap; G62488, G62621–22 Pohnpei; G62747 Kosrae; Solomon Is.: G52573, G57921, G58594; New Caledonia: G34991, G61036–40, G61225; Chesterfield Atoll: G29804; Marshall Is.: G56159; Samoa: G41286; Cook Is.: G35709; Pitcairn I.: G54629.

Species group: loripes.

Description. Colony outline: determinate, predominantly table. Branches: tertiary branching order absent; length: <25 mm; diameter: 2.5–4.9 mm, 50/50 axial/radial, terete; radial crowding: not touching; axial/radial ratio:>1:10. Axial corallites: two synapticular rings; porous; outer diameter 1.0–2.9 mm; inner diameter 0.6–1.2 mm; primary septa to 2/3 R. Radial corallites: small; two synapticular rings; one size or graded; inner wall developed; shape: nariform; openings: elongate lip; primary septa to 1/3 R. Coenosteum: different on and between radials: between radials: reticulate, on radials: costate; spinule shape: blunt irregular.

Taxonomic note. Brook (1982: 103) singled out one of Ehrenberg’s specimens as the only possible type of this species, and this is regarded as the lectotype. Brook also synonymised A. flabelliformis (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1860) with this species.

Further literature. Nishihira & Veron (1995), Wallace & Wolstenholme (1998), Wallace (1999), Veron (2000), Dai & Horng (2009), Turak & DeVantier (2011).

Figures

FIG. 60. Acropora microclados, G64974, Flinders Reef. E. Australia, 2011 (photo: P. Muir). Map of documented distribution: blue squares = MTQ specimens; pink squares = literature records; orange diamonds = type localities (where given), including primary synonyms.