Discosoma nummiforme Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828

Oh, Ren Min, Neo, Mei Lin, Yap, Nicholas Wei Liang, Jain, Sudhanshi Sanjeev, Tan, Ria, Chen, Chaolun Allen & Huang, Danwei, 2019, Citizen science meets integrated taxonomy to uncover the diversity and distribution of Corallimorpharia in Singapore, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 67, pp. 306-321 : 312

Discosoma nummiforme Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828

( Fig. 3 )

Material examined. 1 specimen (syntype), NRS 1156 x1, Red Sea ; 4 specimens, ZRC.CNI.1353 (REL342, REL345) ,

Pulau Hantu , Singapore, coll. R. M. Oh, November 2017 – March 2018; 3 specimens , ZRC.CNI.1354 (REL390), St John’s Island , Singapore, coll. R. M. Oh, November 2017 – March 2018 .

Description. Body disc-shaped. Oral disc with several irregular grooves extending from the centre to the margin. Colour variable, greenish to reddish brown. Outline of mouth round to oval. Diameter up to 20 mm. Column very short, both distal and proximal ends spread outwards. Thin-walled, mesenterial insertions seen as orange lines extending the entire length of column. Discal tentacles poorly developed, appearing as bumps or warts, arranged in radiating lines from the center to the disc margin. Marginal tentacles delicate, closely arranged and bulbous. Mesenteries complete. Cnidom atrichs, holotrichs, microbasic b -mastigophores, microbasic p -mastigophores, spirocysts (see Carlgren, 1943). Found in groups of at least two or three animals.

Remarks. Description follows Rüppell & Leuckart (1828), Haddon (1898), and Carlgren (1943). Globally, species have been recorded in the Red Sea, Tanzania, Indian Ocean, the Ryukyus Archipelago and Cambodia (Fautin, 2009, 2016). This species is found only along the southern shores of Singapore and is commonly known as the ‘stubby’ or ‘beaded’ corallimorpharian ( Table 2). The animal adheres

Figures

Fig. 3. Discosoma nummiforme. A, B, REL342 ex situ; C, D, REL345 ex situ. Scale bar = 1 cm.