Dendrophyllia ijimai Yabe & Eguchi, 1934

Filander, Zoleka N., Kitahara, Marcelo V., Cairns, Stephen D., Sink, Kerry J. & Lombard, Amanda T., 2021, Azooxanthellate Scleractinia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) from South Africa, ZooKeys 1066, pp. 1-198 : 1

Dendrophyllia ijimai Yabe & Eguchi, 1934

Fig. 8O, P

Dendrophyllia ijimai Yabe & Eguchi, 1934: 2026. - Eguchi 1965a: 294, 2 figs. - Eguchi 1968: C65 (in part: pl. C16, figs 1, 2, pl. C22, fig. 1). -Kikuchi 1968: 9, pl. 15, fig. 2. - Eguchi and Miyawaki 1975: 54. - Cairns and Keller 1993: 280, fig. 13G. -Cairns 1994: 89, pl. 38C, F. - Cairns 1999a: 133. - Cairns et al. 1999: 26. - Cairns 2001: 34. -Cairns 2004a: 267, 315. - Kitahara and Cairns 2021: 310, 312, figs 164, 165A-C.

Dendrophyllia micranthus . - Eguchi 1965a: 294, fig. 1. - Eguchi 1968: C66, pl. C24, figs 2, 3.

Dendrophyllia minuscula . -van der Horst 1922: 51-52, pl. 8, fig. 30. -Utinomi 1965: 257. - Boshoff 1981: 42. -Tribble and Randall 1986: 159.

Dendrophyllia subcornigera cylindrica Eguchi, 1968: C64-C65, pl. C32, figs 1, 2.

Dendrophyllia subcornigera . - Wells 1984: 215-216, fig. 5.

Dendrophyllia sp. - Zibrowius and Grygier 1985: 123, 126, figs 22, 23.

Dendrophyllia sp. cf. D. ijimai . - Cairns and Zibrowius 1997: 191-192, fig. 29E.

Type locality.

Presumably off Japan (Cairns 1994).

Type material.

Presumably lost (Cairns 1994).

Material examined.

SAMC_A073008 (4 specimens): Eastern margin, 33 km from Port Dunford / 38 km off Mlalazi Estuary, 29°05'30.11"S, 32°09'06.11"E; 95 m. SAMC_A090121 (1 specimen): Eastern margin, off 33 km from Port Dunford / 37 km off Mlalazi Estuary, 29°08'59.99"S, 32°05'24.00"E; 85 m. USNM 91843 (1 specimen): Eastern margin, 39 km from Cape Vidal / 29 km off Mgobezeleni Estuary, 27°47'21.59"S, 32°39'03.60"E; 62- 84 m. USNM 91844 (1 specimen): Eastern margin, 28 km from Shaka’s Rock / 19 km off Mdlotane Estuary, 29°26'59.99"S, 31°31'11.99"E; 68- 70 m.

Description.

Colony composed of one elongate, straight to slightly curved axial corallite, from which secondary corallites bud. Secondary corallites robust and bud in all directions, reaching ≤ 130 mm in H. Tertiary corallites small (< 3 mm in H). Corallites circular to slightly elliptical (GCD:LCD = 1.0-1.1), with lanceted calicular margins Costae well defined, slightly ridged, and highly granular. Intercostal furrows deep and porous. Corallum white.

Septa hexamerally arranged in four cycles, S5 occasionally present in some half-systems, in a strongly developed Pourtalès plan according to the formula: S1 ≥ S2 > S4 > S3 > S5 (≤ 60 septa). S1 independent and with straight axial margins. S2 as wide to only slightly smaller than S1, and have slightly sinuous axial margins. Both S1 and S2 extend to columella. S3 narrowest, also with slightly sinuous axial margins. S4 dimorphic in size, with laciniate axial margins: in half-systems without S5, S41/5 smaller than S2; however, in half-systems with S5, S4 half the size of S4. S4 arranged in Pourtalès plan: curving towards common S3, and fusing before extending to columella as one septum. However, in half-systems with S5, the S5 is arranged in Pourtalès plan: merging in front of flanked S4, before meandering towards S3 and joining S4 neighbouring S2. Septal faces finely granular. Fossa shallow to moderately deep, with a non-discrete spongy columella.

Distribution.

Regional: Eastern margin of South Africa, from off Shaka’s Rock extending towards Cape Vidal; 62-95 m. Elsewhere: Japan (Yabe and Eguchi 1934; Cairns 1994); Philippines; Indonesia ( Cairns and Zibrowius 1997); Australia (Cairns 2004a); New Zealand; Red Sea (Scheer and Pillai 1983); Zanzibar ( Cairns and Keller 1993); 10-366 m.

Remarks.

Dendrophyllia ijimai is the only Dendrophyllia species in the region that has arborescent colonies bearing large axial corallites that give off shorter corallites budding in an irregular form (Cairns 1994). This growth form makes it easily distinguishable from the other South African congeners. Only one other western Pacific species is known to exhibit such a growth form ( D. cribrosa Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1851) and D. ijimai may be distinguished by its non-anastomotic branches (and exsert corallites) which are not flushed as in the case of D. cribrosa (see Cairns 1994). As noted by Cairns and Keller (1993), this species may be mistaken with Tubastraea micranthus , but differs in having its septa arranged in a well-developed Pourtalès plan.

Figures

Figure 8. A, B Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) diffusa A (USNM 91782, off Port St. Johns, 138 m) calicular view B (USNM 91780, off Kosi Bay Estuary, 74 m) calicular view C, D Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia Balanophyllia) sp. cf. Balanophyllia Balanophyllia malouinensis C (SAM _ H 3069, off East London, 146 - 238 m) calicular view D (SAM _ H 3068, off Mazeppa Bay, 174 m) lateral view E, F Balanophyllia (Eupsammia) stimpsonii (SAM _ H 3831, off Cape Point, 97 - 99 m) E calicular view F lateral view G, H Dendrophyllia arbuscula (SAMC _ A 073119, off Cape Vidal, 65 - 70 m) G calicular view H lateral view I, J Dendrophyllia cladonia I (SAM _ H 1445, off Plettenberg Bay, 146 m) calicular view J (SAM _ H 2833, off Gonubie, 155 m) lateral view K, L Dendrophyllia cornigera K (USNM 91827, off Durban, 232 m) calicular view L (SAM _ H 3841, off Pringle Bay, depth unknown) lateral view M, N Dendrophyllia dilatata (SAMC _ A 073016, off Richards Bay, 500 m) M calicular view N lateral view O, P Dendrophyllia ijimai O (USNM 91844, off Shaka's Rock, 68 - 70 m) calicular view P (SAMC _ A 090121, off Port Dunford, 85 m) lateral view. Scale bars: 10 mm (A - I, K, M, O); 100 mm (J, L, N, P).