Heteropsammia Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848

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

Heteropsammia Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848

Diagnosis.

Corallum solitary or colonial, latter condition achieved by intratentacular budding and resulting in ≤ 40 contiguous corallites. Adult corallum free and mobile, globular in shape. Coralla usually attached to small gastropod shells, these subsequently overgrown. Each specimen apparently in obligate symbiosis with a sipunculid worm, which lives in base of corallum. Epitheca absent. Synapticulotheca covered with finely serrate ridges, usually one to three ridges per corresponding septum (not considered to be conventional costae). Pourtalès plan present. Paliform lobes may be present. Columella spongy, not discrete. Endotheca absent.

Type species.

Heteropsammia michelinii Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848, by monotypy.