Paragorgia tapachtli, JUAN ARMANDO SÁNCHEZ, 2005

JUAN ARMANDO SÁNCHEZ, 2005, Systematics of the bubblegum corals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Paragorgiidae) with description of new species from New Zealand and the Eastern Pacific, Zootaxa 1014, pp. 1-72 : 51-52

Paragorgia tapachtli sp. nov.

( Figs. 34–35 )

Material examined. Holotype: USNM 98786, 12° 44’ N – 102° 36’ W, 1950 m, (Seamount 6, Alvin DSR/V, P. Hickey), 29 October 1995, Mexico.

Diagnostic characters. Autozooid polyp tentacles with irregularly ornate spindles and rods, slightly different than in most Paragorgia spp., less than 0.1 mm in length ( Fig. 35 A– B). Cortex surface, including autozooid aperture, with unusually globular and hypermorphic radiate (mostly 6­radiate derived) sclerites up to 0.047 mm.

Description. Colony branching in one plane, slender branches, slightly curved, down to 2 mm in diameter ( Fig. 34 ). Autozooid polyps distributed uniformly with a notably conical aperture ( Fig. 34 ). Colony bright red. Medulla perforated by 1–2 main axial canals in the terminal branches. Autozooid polyp tentacles with irregularly ornate spindles rods, slightly different to most Paragorgia spp., less than 0.1 mm in length ( Fig. 35 A–B). Surface of the cortex, including autozooid apertures, with unusually globular and smooth radiate (mostly 6­radiate derived) sclerites up to 0.047 mm averaging 0.043 mm in length (±0.003 SD, n=10) ( Fig. 35 C–F). Surface radiates about 1.63 times longer than wide, averaging 0.02 mm in width (±0.001 SD, n=10). Medulla with ornate spindles up to 0.3 mm in length ( Fig. 35 G).

Morphological variation. Both diagnostic characters, autozooid tentacle and surface sclerites, exhibit a great deal of variation in P. tapachtli sp. nov. The globular radiates of the surface present particular individualized forms but are always smooth with little radial ornamentation.

Distribution. Off Mexico, eastern Pacific Ocean, 1950 m.

Species comparisons. No other Paragorgia species has such highly derived characters as P. tapachtli , though they are similar in P. coralloides but not as exaggeratedly globular and rounded.

Etymology. Tapachtli is the word used for ‘coral’ in Nahuatl tongue, an indigenous language from Mexico, the country close to the place where this species was discovered.

Figures

FIGURE 34. Paragorgia tapachtli sp. nov., holotype (USNM 98786) (colony is 20 cm height and 3.5 mm of basal branch diameter).

FIGURE 35. Paragorgia tapachtli sp. nov., holotype (USNM 98786): A – B, sclerites from the polyps (scales 20 m); C – F, radiate sclerites from the colony surface (scales 10 m) (C – D – E are stereo pairs); G, sclerites from the colony medulla (scales 100 m).