Eugorgia nobilis Verrill, 1868

Breedy, Odalisca, Guzman, Hector M. & Vargas, Sergio, 2009, A revision of the genus Eugorgia Verrill, 1868 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae), Zootaxa 2151, pp. 1-46 : 24-25

Eugorgia nobilis Verrill, 1868

Figure 11 , Plate 7A–C

Eugorgia nobilis Verrill, 1868: 408 –409; Bielschowsky 1918: 44, 1929: 175–176; Kükenthal 1924: 343; not Stiasny 1951: 65 (= E. excelsa ); Harden 1979: 127.

Material examined. Lectotype (here designated): YPM 1552a, dry, Pearl Islands, 11–15 m, F.H. Bradley, 1866.

Paralectotypes: YPM 1552b–e, YPM 1658, data as the lectotype.

Other material: MEXICO: USNM 33599, dry, Acapulco, no further data. COSTA RICA: USNM 44207, dry, Golfo de Nicoya, no depth given, M. Valerio, 20 February 1931. PANAMA: STRI 783, dry, Isla San Telmo, Pearl Islands, 2 m, H.M: Guzman, 13 August 2003. PERU: USNM 50154, ethanol preserved, Paita, Piura, W.L. Schmitt, no depth given, 8 October 1926.

Lectotype description. Fan shaped colony, 24 cm in height, and 20 cm in width. Colony composed of two thick and compressed stems, 4–5 mm in diameter, these arise from a spreading holdfast and diverge laterally in sinuous branches, 3–4 mm in diameter. They subdivide irregularly giving off short and thick branchlets placed at short distances, 2–3 mm in diameter, several of them have enlarged tips, up to 3 mm in diameter. Unbranched twigs reach up to 3 cm in length (Plate 7A). Coenenchyme is thick and compact. Colony is brownish red (Plate 7A). The polyps were evenly distributed all around the branches (Plate 7B). Polyp-apertures are small, up to 0.2 mm in diameter, and closely placed on the branch’ surface (Plate 7B). Coenenchymal sclerites mostly double discs, which are light purple, colourless and bicoloured (Plate 7C). Capstans reach up to 0.08 mm in length and 0.05 mm in width, double discs and incomplete double discs are small reaching up to 0.045 mm in length and around the same in width ( Fig. 11 ). Spindles reach up to 0.15 mm in length and 0.05 mm in width, with 4–7 whorls of warty tubercles (Plate 7C, Fig. 11 ). No anthocodial sclerites were obtained in the samples for study.

Description. Examined colonies reach up to 25 cm in height, and 22 cm in width, the largest specimen is composed of three fans spreading laterally, in the same plane, arising from thick, compressed stems up to 0.5 cm in diameter. They subdivide irregularly, branching as in the lectotype. Small specimens have a very irregular branching pattern that looks more like a maze than like a fan. In some specimens branching is profuse and the branches are thinner and longer. Colonies are brownish red and darker hues (Plate 7A, B). Polyp mounds are slightly raised and evenly distributed all around the branches, arranged close together and with small apertures. Sclerites are as in the lectotype.

Distribution. Pearl Islands and Corinto ( Verrill 1868a), type localities; Golfo de Nicoya, Acapulco and Paita ( Table 4).

Remarks. Verrill (1868) described this species with specimens from Pearl Islands, Corinto and La Paz. He introduced the variety " excelsa " with minimal description in a footnote, but designate La Paz as the type locality, thus he excluded all specimens from La Paz from E. nobilis , leaving Pearl Islands and Corinto as the type localities. However, the only material found in the type collections is from Pearl Islands. Later, Verrill (1870) more thoroughly described the variety excelsa restricted to the Mexican localities, La Paz and Acapulco. Although Verrill’s description of E. nobilis (1870) is accurate, he neither designated a holotype nor illustrated the species, additionally, we could not find the specimens from Corinto, and for these reasons we herein designate YPM 1552a as the lectotype of E. nobilis to avoid future confusion.

This species is similar to E. ampla , and E. excelsa , but the short compact branchlets, and the sclerite colours and forms, especially the occurrence of colourless spindles, separates this species from the other two.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Eugorgia nobilis, lectotype, coenenchymal sclerites.