TY - JOUR
T1 - A new species of the sun coral genus Tubastraea (Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae) from Hong Kong
AU - Yiu, Sam King Fung
AU - Chung, Sheena Suet Wah
AU - Qiu, Jianwen
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Environmental and Conservation Fund (34/2019), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (GML2019ZD0404), Hong Kong Branch of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (SMSEGL20SC02), and General Research Fund (HKBU 12102018). We thank Yu Sheung Law, Jack Chi Ho Ip, Caron Ka Lok Wong and Max Hin Leung for technical support, and James Y. Xie for helpful discussion on the distribution of sun coral. We thank Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Magnolia Press.
PY - 2021/9/28
Y1 - 2021/9/28
N2 - Tubastraea, commonly known as sun coral, is a genus of brightly coloured azooxanthellate corals in the family Dendrophylliidae. The diversity of this genus is low, with only seven recognized species. Herein, we describe Tubastraea megacorallita sp. nov. from Hong Kong based on morphological and molecular analyses. This new species exhibits several characteristics of the genus including being colonial, having a rough texture of corallum and no epitheca. It can be distinguished from its congenerics by bigger corallites, and the Pourtalès plan arrangement of its septa. The rDNA gene sequences (consisting of ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2, 18S and 28S) showed 2.45–5.18% divergence from those of its closest relatives, T. coccinea and T. micranthus.
AB - Tubastraea, commonly known as sun coral, is a genus of brightly coloured azooxanthellate corals in the family Dendrophylliidae. The diversity of this genus is low, with only seven recognized species. Herein, we describe Tubastraea megacorallita sp. nov. from Hong Kong based on morphological and molecular analyses. This new species exhibits several characteristics of the genus including being colonial, having a rough texture of corallum and no epitheca. It can be distinguished from its congenerics by bigger corallites, and the Pourtalès plan arrangement of its septa. The rDNA gene sequences (consisting of ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2, 18S and 28S) showed 2.45–5.18% divergence from those of its closest relatives, T. coccinea and T. micranthus.
KW - Ahermatypic coral
KW - Azooxanthellate
KW - Dendrophylliid
KW - Scleractinian coral
KW - South China Sea
KW - Coelenterata
UR - https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5047.1
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115967708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.11646/zootaxa.5047.1.1
DO - 10.11646/zootaxa.5047.1.1
M3 - Article
C2 - 34811013
AN - SCOPUS:85115967708
VL - 5047
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Zootaxa
JF - Zootaxa
SN - 1175-5326
IS - 1
ER -