Xenia mucosa Verseveldt & Tursch, 1979

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 : 218

Xenia mucosa Verseveldt & Tursch, 1979

Xenia mucosa Verseveldt & Tursch, 1979: 147 –148

Material. Holotype: RMNH 12867 , Bismarck Sea, Boëso I., South reef flat, 5 m, 1975–1977, King Leopold III Biological Station at Laing Island, coll. A. Tursch.

Description. The holotype is 50 mm high; its stalk splits 15 mm above its base into two branches, one of which splits again into two, 20 mm above the first; the latter branches are 14 and 13 mm long, 6 mm wide at their base, 15 and 10 mm wide at their uppermost part, respectively. The third branch does not split; it is 20 mm long, 5 mm wide at its base and 6 mm wide at the uppermost part. The polyp body is up to 8 mm long, the tentacles up to 13 mm long, featuring four rows of pinnules on each side. The pinnules are slender, up to 0.5 mm long and 0.2 mm wide, 30–42 in the outermost row with a space of 0.5–1.5 pinnule-widths between adjacent pinnules. No sclerites could be found in any part of the colony. The ethanol-preserved holotype is light beige in color.

Remarks. The re-description of X. mucosa corresponds to the original description.

Similar species and conclusion. Both X. mucosa and X. sansibariana feature four rows of pinnules and lack sclerites in all parts of the colony. The number of pinnules in their outermost row differs ( X. mucosa : 30–42 and X. sansibariana : 26–33) and thus they should be considered as separate species.

Distribution. South-Western Pacific Ocean: Bismarck Sea.