Xenia membranacea Schenk, 1896

Halász, Anna, Mcfadden, Catherine S., Toonen, Robert & Benayahu, Yehuda, 2019, Re-description of type material of Xenia Lamarck, 1816 (Octocorallia: Xeniidae), Zootaxa 4652 (2), pp. 201-239 : 217-218

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4652.2.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:04D7DC4C-5EBC-4C5A-9E68-7795E8E60ECA

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5944970

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/967E5C11-AC3E-9011-FF5A-FF6F1230FB53

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Xenia membranacea Schenk, 1896
status

 

Xenia membranacea Schenk, 1896

Fig. 9 View FIGURE 9

Xenia membranacea Schenk, 1896: 60 , plate 3, Fig 15 View FIGURE 15

Xenia membranacea ; Ashworth 1900: 512; Kükenthal 1902: 654–655; Ashworth 1900: 512; May 1899: 86; Thomson & Dean 1931: 31; Roxas 1933: 90, plate 2, Fig 7 View FIGURE 7 ; Verseveldt 1960: 244–246; Utinomi 1977: 5–6; Benayahu 1990: 118, table 1, listed only; Reinicke 1997: 50–51; Janes 2013; McFadden et al. 2014a.

Material. Syntype: SMF 41 About SMF , Indonesia, Ternate Island, Moluccas, 1894, coll. W. Kükenthal.

Description. The syntype is 25 mm high; its stalk is 9 mm long and it splits 2–3 mm above its base into eight short branches, two of which split again into two; the length of each branch is 8–10 mm and their width is about 5 mm at the base and 5–6 mm at the uppermost part. The polyp body is up to 3 mm long, and the tentacles up to 4 mm long, featuring three and occasionally a partial fourth row of pinnules on each side. The pinnules are relatively slender, up to 0.75 mm long and 0.25 mm wide, 20–25 in the outermost row with no gap between adjacent pinnules.

Sclerites are present in all parts of the colony; most of them are ellipsoid platelets, 0.010 –0.019 X 0.015 –0.025 mm in diameter ( Fig. 9 View FIGURE 9 , n=26). Their surface outline ranges from almost smooth to irregular ( Fig. 9a, b View FIGURE 9 ). Some of the sclerites feature a crest, or surface depressions ( Fig 9c, e View FIGURE 9 ). Others are almost round ( Fig. 9f View FIGURE 9 ) or feature a longitudinal furrow ( Fig. 9g View FIGURE 9 ). The sclerites are composed of calcite rods arranged radially, at least on the surface of the sclerite ( Fig. 9d View FIGURE 9 ), providing a granular appearance to all the various morphologies. The ethanol-preserved holotype is light gray in color.

Remarks. The original description of Xenia membranacea indicated 3–4 irregular rows of pinnules, 20–25 pinnules in each one. The sclerites were referred to as round discs, long ovals, or rod-like, 0.015 –0.020 mm, 0.02– 0.025 X 0.010 –0.015 mm and 0.020 –0.030 X 0.006 –0.010 mm, respectively. Except for the latter, their measurements match our re-description of the type. Verseveldt (1960) identified material from Obi Latu ( Indonesia) and from the Bay of Djakarta, Malay Archipelago. For the former he described four rows of pinnules, 20–24 in a row, and "numerous oval" sclerites measuring 0.018 –0.022 X 0.013 –0.015 mm; while for the one from the Malay Archipelago he described five rows of pinnules, referring to Thomson & Dean (1931: 31) who also described five rows for specimens from the same location. The material from Obi Latu corresponds to the X. membranacea type while the Malay material might belong to X. fusca . X. membranacea was reported from the Red Sea by Benayahu (1990) and Reinicke (1997).

Similar species and conclusion. Roxas (1933) identified two specimens from the Philippines as Xenia membranacea and noted that it had been synonymized by Hickson (1931a: 152) with X. crassa . X enia membranacea and X. crassa feature three and sometimes four rows of pinnules, but differ in the number of pinnules. Their sclerite microstructure also differs ( Figs. 9 View FIGURE 9 and 5 View FIGURE 5 , respectively), and thus they should be considered as separate. Although features of X. membranacea also resemble those of X. grasshoffi , the former possesses sclerites with sinuous rods lacking in the latter, thus the two should be considered as separate species.

Distribution. Indonesia: Ternate Island, Moluccas, Philippines, Japan, Malay Archipelago, Red Sea.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Curculionidae

Genus

Xenia

Loc

Xenia membranacea Schenk, 1896

Halász, Anna, Mcfadden, Catherine S., Toonen, Robert & Benayahu, Yehuda 2019
2019
Loc

Xenia membranacea

Benayahu, Y. 1990: 118
Roxas, H. A. 1933: 90
Thomson, J. A. & Dean, L. M. I. 1931: 31
Ashworth, J. H. 1900: 512
Ashworth, J. H. 1900: 512
May, W. 1899: 86
1900
Loc

Xenia membranacea

Schenk, A. 1896: 60
1896
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