Parazoanthidae sp. 1

Reimer, James D., Poliseno, Angelo & Hoeksema, Bert W., 2014, Shallow-water zoantharians (Cnidaria, Hexacorallia) from the Central Indo-Pacific, ZooKeys 444, pp. 1-57 : 16

Taxon classification Animalia Zoantharia Parazoanthidae

18. Parazoanthidae sp. 1 Figures 16A, B, 17

Specimens examined

(n=2). RMNH Coel 40766, Fauna Malesiana Maluku Expedition station MAL.09, southwest coast, Ambon, Latuhalat, Moluccas (03°46'S, 128°06'E), depth = to 24 m, collected on November 11, 1996; RMNH Coel 40768, Snellius Expedition, Pulau Bo Islands, Halmahera Sea, collected on October 5, 1930.

Photographic records

(n=1). Station BER.30, north of Lighthouse 1 Reef, south of Pulau Derawan, East Kalimantan, Berau Islands (02°16'02"N, 118°14'23"E), October 22, 2003.

Description.

Azooxanthellate, epibiotic on Keroeides sp., polyps approximately the same height as width (approximately 1-3 mm), connected by coenenchyme visible on the outer surface of the octocoral colony. Polyps numerous, placed between smaller octocoral polyps, pale yellow in coloration, with outer surface of polyps slightly reddish in color similar to host octocoral. Tentacles relatively short, approximately half of the oral disk diameter, also pale yellow, and approximately 20 in number (Figure 16A).

Specimen RMNH Coel 40766 is larger than RMNH Coel 40768 (polyp average width 2.6 mm vs 1.6 mm, respectively). However, the latter specimen is quite old (from the original Snellius Expedition) and this difference may be due to fixation methods.

Distribution.

Regions recorded in this study (Figure 17). Moluccas (14), Bo Islands (15), Berau Islands (19).

Previous records. NA.

Remarks.

Only two specimens and one photographic record of this undescribed species exist. However, these records are each from different expeditions, and it is reasonable to expect that this species is at least distributed in the Banda and Celebes Seas.

Recently, many different genera in the family Parazoanthidae have been described based on a combination of epizoitic relationships and phylogenetic analyses (e.g. Sinniger et al. 2010, 2013). However, no parazoanthids have been reported in association with Keroeides , and therefore currently it is impossible to place these specimens and records into a genus without both further examination of specimens combined with DNA sequence data.