Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5501 No. 4: 3 Sept. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-09-03
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5501.4.7
Page range: 573-582
Abstract views: 116
PDF downloaded: 6

A new species of Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868 (Octocorallia, Malacalcyonacea) from a mesophotic fishing shoal in the eastern Pacific

Museo de Zoología; Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Ecología Tropical; Universidad de Costa Rica; P. O. Box 11501-2060; San José; Costa Rica; and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Republic of Panama; Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas; Universidad de Costa Rica; San José; Costa Rica; Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología; Universidad de Costa Rica; San José; Costa Rica
Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas; Universidad de Costa Rica; San José; Costa Rica
Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología; Universidad de Costa Rica; San José; Costa Rica
Octocorallia Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) biodiversity new species taxonomy

Abstract

Heterogorgia abdita sp. nov. is a newly identified mesophotic octocoral species collected at Tigre shoal off Santa Elena Peninsula (Pacific Costa Rica). The new species is described based on distinctive morphological characters that classify it within the genus Heterogorgia. It is characterised by its conspicuous small branching colony with prominent calyces and thin branches. While its scleroma aligns with the genus, the presence of club-like spindles is notable, as these have previously been observed only in the sole Atlantic Heterogorgia species. This study enhances our understanding of the intriguing genus Heterogorgia and contributes to the knowledge of octocoral biodiversity within the Área de Conservación Guanacaste north Pacific Costa Rica and the broader marine biodiversity of the eastern tropical Pacific.

 

References

  1. Ament-Velásquez, S.L., Breedy, O., Cortés, J., Guzman, H.M., Wörheide, G. & Vargas, S. (2016) Homoplasious colony morphology and mito-nuclear phylogenetic discordance among Eastern Pacific octocorals. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 98, 373–381.
  2. Bayer, F.M. (1956) Octocorallia: In: Moore, R.C. (Ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part F. Coelenterata. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, pp. F163–F231.
  3. Bayer, F.M. (1981) Key to the genera of Octocorallia exclusive of Pennatulacea (Coelenterata: Anthozoa), with diagnoses of new taxa. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 94, 902–947.
  4. Bayer, F.M. (1994) A new species of the gorgonacean genus Bebryce (Coelenterata : Octocorallia) from Papua-New Guinea. Bulletin of Marine Science, 54, 546–553.
  5. Bayer, F.M., Grasshoff, M. & Verseveldt, J. (1983) Illustrated Trilingual Glossary of Morphological and Anatomical Terms Applied to Octocorallia. E.J. Brill/Dr. W. Backhuys, Leiden, 75 pp.
  6. Breedy, O & Guzman, H.M. (2004) New species of the gorgoniian genus Pacifigorgia (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) from the Pacific of Panama. Zootaxa, 541, 1–15.
  7. Breedy, O. & Guzman, H.M. (2005) A new species of alcyonacean octocoral from the Galapagos Archipelago. Journal of the Marine Biology Association of the United Kingdom, 85, 801–807.
  8. Breedy, O. & Guzman, H.M. (2011) A revision of the genus Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae). Zootaxa, 2995, 27–44.
  9. Breedy, O. & Guzman, H.M. (2018) Revision of the genus Adelogorgia Bayer, 1958 (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia) with the description of three new species. Zootaxa, 4369 (3), 327–34 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4369.3.2
  10. Castro, C.B. (1990) A new species of Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868 (Coelenterata, Octocorallia) from Brazil with comments on the type species of the genus. Bulletin of Marine Science, 47, 411–420.
  11. Castro, C.B., Medeiros, M.S. & Loiola, L.L. (2010) Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from Brazilian reefs. Journal of Natural History, 44, 763–827.
  12. Cortés J (2017) Marine biodiversity baseline for Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica: published records. ZooKeys, 652, 129–179. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.652.10427
  13. Diechmann, E. (1941) Coelenterates collected on the Presidential Cruise of 1938. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 99 (10), 1–17.
  14. Ehrenberg, C.G. (1831) Symbolae physicae, seu icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium novorum. Pars Zoologica, Berlin, 1831, 4,
  15. France, S.C. & Hoover, L.L. (2002) DNA sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene have low levels of divergence among deep-sea octocorals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). Hydrobiologia, 471, 149–155. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016517724749
  16. Haeckel, E. (1866) Generelle Morphologie der organismen. G. Reimer, Berlin, 1036 pp.
  17. Harden, D.G. (1979) Intuitive and numerical classification of east Pacific Gorgonacea (Octocorallia). Unpublished PhD thesis, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. [unknown pagination]
  18. Humann, P. (1994) Reef Coral Identification. Florida, Caribbean and Bahamas. Paramount Miller Graphics. Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, 240 pp.
  19. Kükenthal, W. (1919) Gorgonaria. Wissensschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee–Expedition auf dem Dampfer “Valdivia”, 1898–1899, 13, 1–946.
  20. Kükenthal, W. (1924) Gorgonaria. Das Tierreich. Vol. 47. Walter de Gruyter and Co., Berlin und Leipzig, xxviii + 478 pp.
  21. Matamoros-Calderón, W., Lara, M. & Breedy, O. (2021) Bosques de coral negro del Área de Conservación Guanacaste: especies y distribución. Revista de Biología Tropical, 69 (Supplement 2), S208-S218. https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v69iS2.483
  22. McFadden, C.S., Tullis, I.D., Hutchinson, M.B., Winner, K. & Sohm, J.A. (2004) Variation in coding (NADH dehydrogenase subunits 2, 3, and 6) and noncoding intergenic spacer regions of the mitochondrial genome in Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). Marine Biotechnology, 6, 516–526. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS12035
  23. McFadden, C.S. & van Ofwegen, L.P. (2012) Stoloniferous octocorals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) from South Africa, with descriptions of a new family of Alcyonacea, a new genus of Clavulariidae, and a new species of Cornularia (Cornulariidae). Invertebrate Systematics, 26, 331–356. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS12035
  24. McFadden, C.S., van Ofwegen, L.P. & Quattrini, A.M. (2022) Revisionary systematics of Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) guided by phylogenomics. Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists, 1 (3), е8735. https://doi.org/10.18061/bssb.v1i3.8735
  25. Nutting, C.C. (1910) The Gorgonacea of the Siboga Expedition III. The Muriceidae. Siboga-Expedition Monograph, 13b, 1–108.
  26. Philippi, A. (1842) Zoologische Beobachtungen. Archiv für Naturgeschichte, 8 (1), 33–45.
  27. Sánchez, J.A., McFadden, C.S., France, S.C. & Lasker, H.R. (2003) Molecular phylogenetic analyses of shallow-water Caribbean octocorals. Marine Biology, 142, 975–987. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1018-7
  28. Vargas, S., Eitel, M., Breedy, O. & Schierwater, B. (2010) Molecules match morphology: mitochondrial DNA supports Bayer’s Lytreia-Bebryce-Heterogorgia (Alcyonacea: Octocorallia) clade hypothesis. Invertebrate Systematics, 24, 1–9.
  29. Verrill, A.E. (1868) Notes on Radiata in the Museum of Yale College, number 6: review of the corals and polyps of the west coast of America. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2nd Edition, 1, 377–478.
  30. Verrill, A.E. (1869) Notes on Radiata in the Museum of Yale College, Number 6: Review of the corals and polyps of the West Coast of America. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2nd Edition, 1869, 423–502.
  31. Verrill, A.E. (1912) The Gorgonians of the Brazilian coast. Journal of Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 15, 373–404.
  32. Wright, E.P. & Studer, T. (1889) Report on the Alcyonaria collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–1876. Challenger Zoology, 31, 314.