Anthoptilum grandiflorum ( Verrill, 1879 )

Williams, Gary C. & Alderslade, Philip, 2011, Three new species of pennatulacean octocorals with the ability to attach to rocky substrata (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Pennatulacea), Zootaxa 3001, pp. 33-48 : 35-36

Anthoptilum grandiflorum ( Verrill, 1879)

Figs. 1 , 7A

Virgularia grandiflora Verrill, 1879: 239 .

Anthoptilum thomsoni Kölliker, 1880: 13 .

Anthoptilum simplex Kölliker, 1880: 15 .

Anthoptilum grandiflorum Jungersen 1904 , 66; Hickson 1904: 233; Kükenthal & Broch 1911: 233; Thomson 1915: 17; Kükenthal 1915: 32; Tixier-Durivault 1954: 629; Grasshoff 1982: 954; Williams 1990: 69.

Benthoptilum sertum Verrill, 1885: 510

Anthoptilum malayense Hickson, 1916: 143 .

Thesioides inermis Thomson & Henderson, 1906: 91 .

Material examined. CAS 122323, U.S.A., Oregon off shore, 44.00° 28.30’ N, 125.00° 13.40’ W, 1335–1372 m depth, 20 October 1961, J.E. McCauley aboard RV Acona, Oregon State University.

Description of CAS 122323. The wet-preserved colony is elongate, narrow, strongly curved and 460 mm long; the rachis is 378 mm long and 7–8 mm wide; and the peduncle is 82 mm long and 8–16 mm wide. The autozooids are up to 10 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, numerous and crowded around much of the circumference of the rachis, leaving only one side free of polyps. Siphononzooids are numerous (>20 per linear 10 mm), crowded between the autozooids, circular to slightly oval in shape, and mostly 0.25 mm in diameter. Sclerites of the peduncle interior are sparsely distributed, minute oval bodies up to 0.03 mm in length. Color of colony in alcohol is light tan.

Distribution. Anthoptilum grandiflorum occurs in all oceans, to 3150 m depth.

Remarks. We have been unable to examine the holotype of Anthoptilum grandiflorum ( Verrill, 1879) . The specimen was apparently deposited at the Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University and is recorded as being dry. A search and inventory of all dry type specimens at the Museum is currently under way (pers. comm. E.A. Lazo-Wasem, Senior Collection Manager), with an undetermined time of completion.

This relatively well known species was considered by Kükenthal (1915: 32–33) as possibly the only known valid species in the genus Anthoptilum , since A. simplex , A. thomsoni , and A. murrayi of Kölliker, 1880, and A. decipiens and Thesioides inermis of Thomson & Henderson, 1906 were listed by him as junior synonyms. In addition, in the same paper Kükenthal recorded Anthoptilum sertum ( Verrill, 1885) as a dubious or uncertain species after having previously transferred Benthoptilum sertum ( Verrill, 1885) (and Stephens 1909) to Anthoptilum as a valid species ( Kükenthal & Broch 1911). Grasshoff (1982), however, regarded A. sertum as a synonym of A. grandiflorum and recognized A. murrayi as an additional valid species. We agree with Grasshoff’s assessment, and we also believe Anthoptilum malayense Hickson, 1916 , to be a junior synonym of A grandiflorum .

Anthoptilum grandiflorum is a soft-sediment inhabiting species, with a sausage-shaped peduncle similar in structure to that of the vast majority of other pennatulaceans ( Figs. 1 , 7A ), and does not exhibit modifications of the proximal apex for attachment to hard substrata ( Figs. 7 B, 8A–E). Colonies are whip-like or vermiform, some over 1,000 mm in total length with a rachis (minus polyps) commonly 10 mm in maximum width, giving a ratio of total colony length to rachis diameter of up to 100:1

Figures

FIGURE 1. Illustrations of Anthoptilum grandiflorum: A, from Kükenthal & Broch 1911, Pl. 14, Fig. 6; B. Anthoptilum thomsoni (considered a synonym of A grandiflorum by Kükenthal 1915) from Kölliker 1880, Pl. 4, Fig. 16.

FIGURE 7. A, peduncle of Anthoptilum grandiflorum CAS 122323; B, Anthoptilum gowlettholmesae sp. nov. proximal portion of peduncle of paratype TMAG K 3878; C, Calibelemnon francei sp. nov. holotype.