Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:56:37.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Leptogorgia ignita, a new shallow-water coral species (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) from the tropical eastern Pacific

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2008

Odalisca Breedy*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Hector M. Guzman
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Odalisca Breedy Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y LimnologíaUniversidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica email: odalisca@racsa.co.cr

Abstract

Leptogorgia ignita is a new gorgonian species characterized by its conspicuous bright orange colour, irregular branching pattern and combination of sclerite types in the coenenchyme, all of the same orange colour, with abundance of capstans and blunt spindles, and less abundant acute spindles. The species was found in a shallow water coral community, 4–12 m deep in Samara Bay, Pacific Costa Rica. Morphologically, L. ignita belongs to the L. rigida-group comprising eight species for the group; 13 Leptogorgia species are known for Costa Rica, and 23 for the entire eastern Pacific. The new species is described, illustrated and compared to the other valid taxa of the group.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bayer, F.M. (1961) The shallow water Octocorallia of the West Indian Region. A manual for marine biologists. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Bayer, F.M. (2000) A new species of Leptogorgia from the eastern Pacific (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Holaxonia). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 113, 609616.Google Scholar
Bielschowsky, E. (1929) Die Gorgonarien Westindien. 6. Die Familie Gorgoniidae, zugleich eine Revision. Zoologische Jahrbücher Supplement 16, 63234.Google Scholar
Breedy, O. and Guzman, H.M. (2002) A revision of the genus Pacifigorgia (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 115, 787844.Google Scholar
Breedy, O. and Guzman, H.M. (2005) A new species of Leptogorgia (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) from the shallow waters of the eastern Pacific. Zootaxa 899, 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breedy, O. and Guzman, H.M. (2007) A revision of the genus Leptogorgia Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1857 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) in the eastern Pacific. Zootaxa 1419, 190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrenberg, C.G. (1834) Beiträgue zur physiologischen Kentnniss der Corallenthiere im allgemeinen, und besonders des rothen Meeres, nebst einem Versuche zur physiologischen Systematik derselben. Abhandlungen der Königlichen [preussischen] Akademie Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1832, 225380.Google Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1988) The genus Leptogorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) in West Africa. Atlantide Report 14, 91147.Google Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1992) Die Flachwasser-Gorgonarien von Europa und Westafrika (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 149, 1135.Google Scholar
Guzman, H.M. and Breedy, O. (2008) Leptogorgia christiae (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) a new shallow gorgonian from Pacific Panama. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 88, 719722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haeckel, E. (1866) Generelle morphologie der organismen. Berlin: Georg Reimer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickson, S.J. (1904) The Alcyonaria of the Cape of Good Hope. Part II. Marine Investigations in South Africa 3, 211239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamouroux, J.V.F. (1812) Extrait d'un mémoire sur la classification des Polypiers coralligènes non entièrement pierreux. Nouveau Bulletin des Sciences, par la Société Philomatique, Paris 63, 181188.Google Scholar
Lamouroux, J.V.F. (1816) Histoire des polypiers coralligènes flexiles vulgairement nommés zoophytes. Caen: F. Poisson, Ilxxxiv, 1–506, pls. 1–19.Google Scholar
Milne-Edwards, H. and Haime, J. (1857) Histoire naturelle des coralliaires ou polypes proprement dits, Volume 1. Paris: Libraire Encyclopédique de Roret, pp. Ixxxiv plus 1–326, 8 plates, numbered A1–6, B1–2.Google Scholar
Pallas, P.S. (1766) Elenchus zoophytorum systems generum adumbrations generaliores et specierum cognitarum succinactas descriptions cum selectis auctorum synonymis. Hagae Comitum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verrill, A.E. (1864) List of the polyps and corals sent by the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy to other institutions in exchange, with annotations. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 1, 2960.Google Scholar
Verrill, A.E. (1865) Synopsis of the polyps and corals of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under Commodore C. Ringgold and Captain John Rodgers, U.S.N., from 1853 to 1856. Collected by Dr. Wm. Stimpson, naturalist to the Expedition. With description of some additional species from the West coast of North America. Proceedings of the Essex Institute Salem 4, 181196.Google Scholar
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 (Second Edition) 1, 377422.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. (1992) The Alcyonacea of southern Africa. Gorgonian octocorales (Coelenterata, Anthozoa). Annals of the South African Museum 101, 181296.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. and Lindo, K.G. (1997) A review of the octocorallian genus Leptogorgia (Anthozoa: Gorgoniidae) in the Indian Ocean and Subantarctic, with description of a new species and comparisons with related taxa. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 49, 499521.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. and Vennan, J.S. (2001) A revision of the Indo-West Pacific taxa of the gorgonian genus Pseudopterogorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae), with the description of a new species from western India. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 10, 7195.Google Scholar