Sibogagorgia weberi Stiasny, 1937

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 : 60-62

Sibogagorgia weberi Stiasny, 1937

( Fig. 42 )

Sibogagorgia weberi Stiasny 1937: 80 ; Verseveldt 1942: 175. Not Suberia koellikeri: Nutting 1911: 13 .

Material examined. Holotype: ZMA Coel 0 3282 (Amsterdam), H­849, NIWA 3330, fragment, Siboga expedition st. 297, 10° 39’S – 123° 40’E, 520 m, South of Timor, Indonesia.

Diagnostic characters. Medulla sclerites smooth, barely ornate spindles exhibiting most ornamentation at tips ( Fig. 42 F).

Description. Branching colonies probably larger than 200 mm in height, according to Stiasny’s photographs (1937: plate IV). Terminal branches 3–7.5 mm in diameter ( Stiasny 1937). White to beige cortex. All sclerites colourless. Surface of the cortex with radiate sclerites (mostly 8­radiates) with star­like sub­radial ornamentation ( Fig. 42 A–E). Surface sclerites up to 0.07 mm long averaging 0.064 (0.007 SD, n=10) ( Fig. 42 A–D). Surface radiates about 1.64 times longer than wider, averaging 0.039 mm in width (0.003 SD, n=10). Other intermediate forms between radiate and spindle present in the boundary layer ( Fig. 42 E). Medulla with smooth, barely ornate (most of ornamentation at tips) straight spindles usually less than 0.3 mm in length ( Fig. 42 F).

Morphological variation. The holotype specimen, the only known record of the species, presents slightly different types of sclerites at both the cortex and medulla. The subradiate ornaments vary from somewhat acute star­like tips (e.g., Fig. 42 A–B) to smooth and blunt ( Fig. 42 C–D). Medulla spindles are progressively less ornate towards the inner medulla.

Distribution. Only known for the type locality south of Timor, Indonesia, 520 m.

Figures

FIGURE 42. Sibogagorgia weberi (Stiasny, 1937), holotype (ZMA Coel 03282): A – D, radiates from the surface (scales 10 m) (A – B are stereo pairs); E, intermediate sclerites from the subsurface (scales 10 m); F, sclerites from the medulla (scales 100 m).