Acropora stoddarti Pillai & Scheer, 1976

Wallace, Carden C., Done, Barbara J. & Muir, Paul R., 2012, Revision and catalogue of worldwide staghorn corals Acropora and Isopora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) in the Museum of Tropical Queensland, Memoirs of the Queensland Museu Nature 57, pp. 1-258 : 198

Acropora stoddarti Pillai & Scheer, 1976

( Fig. 97 )

Acropora stoddarti Pillai & Scheer, 1976: 27 , pls 5–6.

Type locality. Addu Atoll, Maldives (holotype HSMD).

MTQ Holdings. Maldives: topotypes G46421–23 Addu Atoll, Maldives.

Species group: divaricata .

Description. Colony outline: determinate, predominantly arborescent table. Branches: tertiary branching order absent; length: 25–50 mm; diameter: 10.0–19.9 mm, 50/50 axial/ radial; tapering; radial crowding: some touching; axial/radial ratio:>1:10. Axial corallites: three synapticular rings; not porous; outer diameter 1.9–2.5 mm; inner diameter 0.7–1.3 mm; primary septa to ½ R. Radial corallites: medium; three synapticular rings; one size or graded; inner wall developed; shape: nariform; round openings; primary septa to 1/3 R. Coenosteum: same on

and between radials: reticulate to reticulocostate, spinule shape: single point or forked.

Taxonomic note. These specimens at the type locality (Gan I. lagoon, Addu Atoll, Maldives). We have taken A. stoddarti out of the synonymy with A. divaricata (as given in Wallace 1999): however its precise identity remains elusive. While all specimens share similarities with A. divaricata , there is a high degree of variability, amongst the three specimens at hand, in the width of branches, which range from broad and strap-like to slender and tapering. The colony illustrated bears the greatest similarity to syntype X2:31-24 of Pillai and Scheer (1976).

Further literature: Veron (2000) (some of the illustrated specimens may not be A. stoddarti).

Figures

FIG. 97. Acropora stoddarti, G64621, Addu Atoll, Maldives, 2006 (photo: P. Muir). Map of documented distribution: blue squares = MTQ specimens; pink squares = literature records; orange diamonds = type localities (where given), including primary synonyms.