Kotatea kurakootingotingo, Kessel & Alderslade & Bilewitch & Schnabel & Norman & Potts & Gardner, 2022

Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa & Gardner, Jonathan P. A., 2022, Dead man’s fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833, European Journal of Taxonomy 837, pp. 1-85 : 29-33

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5852/ejt.2022.837.1923
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7CBAC71F-FF75-411C-9CE9-AA633E16438E
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7094110
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/EFF18A57-F73F-4434-9788-237264E59102
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:EFF18A57-F73F-4434-9788-237264E59102
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Kotatea kurakootingotingo
status	gen. et sp. nov.

Treatment

Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EFF18A57-F73F-4434-9788-237264E59102

Figs 1A View Fig , 2D–E View Fig , 4A–B View Fig , 14A View Fig , 15–17 View Fig View Fig View Fig

Māori name

Kura Kōtingotingo.

Diagnosis

Colonies robustly lobate and orange with distinct red or dark orange spots. Polyps white. Collaret and points may be colourless or dark orange, composed of warty to spiny spindles and well-developed thorny clubs. Tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like sclerites. Polyp neck contains warty rod-like forms. Polyp mounds contain similar sclerites, as well as cone-like clubs, spindle-like, rod-like and oval forms with warts in girdles. Lobe and base surface contains similar sclerites, but lacks well-developed clubs. Base surface also includes spheroids, a few clubs, and gradations between radiates and oval or rod-like forms with wart girdles and occasionally a narrow waist. Lobe and base interior contains highly sculptured rod-like, spindle-like and oval forms girdled with complex warts, spheroids particularly common in base interior.

Etymology

The species name was composed by the Ngāti Kurī Tira Me Te Wā Taiao (Science) Collective, and is a combination of the Māori words kura, red, and kōtingotingo, spotted. Note that for the species epithet, the ‘ ō ’ in kōtingotingo is replaced by ‘oo’ to indicate a long vowel sound without the use of a macron. Ngāti Kurī provided the following kōrero (narrative): “Kura Kōtingotingo’s spots are reminiscent of the dots on specific kōwhaiwhai patterns, which are used to represent ancestors and to serve as reminders to their whānau (family). The sacred red spots of Kura Kōtingotingo represent the sacred memory of our tūpuna (ancestors) and the legacy they leave for us in caring for nature. When they depart the living world, their wairua (spirits) rest awhile on Manawatāwhi. With teardrops of aroha (love), they look back for one last sight of Aotearoa , before continuing their journey to Te Ao Wairua (the spirit world), their final resting place. Our tūpuna remain forever etched into our memories. When you gaze upon the kōwhaiwhai patterns of the rafters in our wharenui (meeting house), the spots you see are symbols put there by the families. Whakapapa (genealogy) is celebrated in our rafter patterns. Look back on all our dots and enjoy the connectedness of whānau and whakapapa. Whakapapa is our map of infinite interconnectedness with our tūpuna and our taiao (natural world), linked to our spiritual domain.”

Material examined

Holotype NEW ZEALAND • Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Princes Islands; 34.1759° S, 172.04949° E; depth 10–20 m; 24 Feb. 2002; NIWA exped.; stn Z15942 View Materials ; NIWA 101538 View Materials . GoogleMaps

Paratypes NEW ZEALAND – Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands • 1 specimen; Manawatāwhi / Great Island ; 34.15° S, 172.15° E; depth 7 m; 20 Apr. 1999; J. Starmer leg.; MAGNT C015221 About MAGNT GoogleMaps • 1 specimen; Manawatāwhi / Great Island ; 34.1662° S, 172.1502° E; depth 6 m; 20 Apr. 1999; Coral Reef Research Foundation exped.; MAGNT C013955 About MAGNT GoogleMaps • 1 specimen; same collection data as for holotype; AK 73622 GoogleMaps .

Description (holotype, NIWA 101538)

Colony form

The holotype consists of a lobate colony, measuring 2.5 cm in height by 3.5 cm width ( Figs 4B View Fig , 14A View Fig ). The surface of the colony (ethanol-preserved) is orange, while sclerites immediately surrounding the polyps and those in the polyp neck are red or dark orange, producing a conspicuously spotted appearance. There is no clearly discernible basal section, and polyps are distributed more or less evenly across the entire surface of the colony. Polyps are white, 0.5–1.3 mm tall when expanded, with colourless collaret and points in the holotype ( Fig. 2D View Fig ), but see variability section below.

Sclerites

Points are composed of warty to spiny spindles and well-developed thorny clubs distally (~ 0.1–0.3 mm long) ( Fig. 15A–B View Fig ). Proximally, spindles become larger, more robust, and more crescentic (~ 0.25– 0.45 mm long), transitioning into a transverse orientation and merging with the collaret ( Fig. 15A View Fig ). The number of collaret rows is variable depending on polyp size, but in large polyps this is approximately seven rows ( Fig. 17C View Fig ). The tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like forms, often slightly crescentic (~ 0.08–0.21 mm long) ( Fig. 15C View Fig ). The polyp neck contains many warty rod-like forms (~ 0.08–0.12 mm long) ( Fig. 15D View Fig ), which extend some way into the polyp mound, where they grade into cone-like clubs, as well as spindle-like, rod-like and oval forms with warts arranged in girdles (~ 0.1–0.18 mm long) ( Fig. 16A View Fig ). Between polyp mounds, the surface of the lobes contains similar sclerites (~ 0.1–0.18 mm long) but lacks well-developed clubs ( Fig. 16B View Fig ). The surface of the base contains mostly smaller sclerites than the surface of the lobes, including spheroids, a few clubs, and a gradation between radiates and oval or rod-like forms, which are girdled with warts and some with a narrow waist (~ 0.08–0.14 mm long) ( Fig. 17A View Fig ). The interior of both the lobes and the base contains highly sculptured rod-like, spindle-like and oval forms that are girdled with complex warts, while spheroids are particularly common in the interior of the base. Generally, sclerites of the interior tend to be larger than those of the surface regions (~ 0.1–0.2 mm long) ( Figs 16C View Fig , 17B View Fig ).

Variability

Paratype MAGNT C013955 ( Fig. 14A View Fig ) consists of only a fragment and was originally part of a much larger colony, probably ~ 10 cm in width ( Fig. 4A View Fig ). Paratype MAGNT C015221 has mostly dark orange collaret and point sclerites ( Fig. 2E View Fig ) in its small polyps. All four preserved specimens are otherwise very similar in growth form and colour, matching the colouration of live colonies in situ ( Fig. 4A–B View Fig ). The three paratypes correspond very closely to the holotype in their sclerite composition and size ranges ( Figs 15–17 View Fig View Fig View Fig ).

Comparisons

Specimens of Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov. are superficially similar to congeners with a robust, lobate growth form. However, K. kurakootingotingo and K. lobata gen. et sp. nov. specimens are easily distinguishable, as the latter are not spotted and completely lack the former’s large, highly sculptured spheroids in surface and interior sections (compare Figs 16B–C View Fig , 17A–B View Fig and 19F View Fig , 20 View Fig , 21A View Fig ). Conversely, specimens of K. kurakootingotingo lack the very large, highly branched, antler-like sclerites which are characteristic of interior sections in K. lobata (compare Figs 16C View Fig , 17B View Fig and 20A View Fig , 21A View Fig ). Additionally, specimens of K. lobata are composed of smaller and much less robust sclerites overall (compare Figs 15–17 View Fig View Fig View Fig and 19–21 View Fig View Fig View Fig ).

Specimens of Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov. differ from those of K. niwa gen. et sp. nov. in lacking the distinct double-heads of that species’ lobe surface and interior, while conversely, K. niwa lacks the rod-like and spindle-like forms present in the interiors of K. kurakootingotingo (compare Figs 16B–C View Fig , 17A–B View Fig and 22F–G View Fig , 23A–B View Fig ). Additionally, the polyps of K. kurakootingotingo specimens are typically around twice as large as those in K. niwa (up to ~ 1.3 mm vs up to ~ 0.75 mm; compare Figs 17C View Fig and 23C View Fig ). Note also that these two species were each resolved as monophyletic by phylogenetic analyses of mtMutS and 28S ( Fig. 37 View Fig ).

Habitat and distribution

All specimens were collected at depths of ≤ 20 m at the Manawatāwhi/Three Kings Islands ( Fig. 1A View Fig ). Paratypes MAGNT C013955 and MAGNT C015221 were recorded as having been collected on a rocky reef.