Nanozoanthus undetermined
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1111/zoj.12075 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:20F3052C-5284-4B6B-BD71-87DE7C2DEB91 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DA87AC-3412-5E7D-FC2F-67C7FB8CFAE4 |
treatment provided by |
Carolina |
scientific name |
Nanozoanthus undetermined |
status |
SP. |
NANOZOANTHUS HARENACEUS SP. NOV.
( FIGS 3A, B View Figure 3 AND 4 View Figure 4 )
Holotype
Specimen number NSMT-Co-1555. Cape Maeda, Onna, Okinawa, Japan (26°26′36″ N, 127°46′22″ E), 9 m depth, collected by Takuma Fujii ( T.F.), 15 February 2012, half of colony fixed in 5–10% formalin, other half of colony fixed in 99% EtOH, deposited in National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan ( NSMT). GenBank accession numbers: mt COI, KF499609 View Materials ; 16S rDNA, KF499601 View Materials . GoogleMaps
Description of holotype
Substrate of colony fragment of dead coral: dimensions 30 × 30 × 20 mm for formalin-fixed specimen; dimensions 30 × 20 × 15 mm for EtOH-fixed specimen. Polyps cylindrical, connected by narrow stolon. Height of polyps (n = 37) 1.2–4.5 mm, diameter 0.4– 1.8 mm. Mineral particles encrusted in column from aboral end to edge of oral disc.
Paratypes (all from Japan)
Paratype 1: Specimen number USNM-1221444. Cape Maeda, Okinawa, Japan (26°26′36″ N, 127°46′22″ E), 22 m depth, collected by T GoogleMaps . F., 21 December 2011, half of colony fixed in 5–10% formalin, other half of colony fixed in 99% EtOH, deposited in National Museum of Natural History , Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA ( USNM) .
Paratype 2: Specimen number RUMF-2G-04372. Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan (26°32′16″ N, 128°4′48″ E), 20 m depth, collected by T GoogleMaps . F., 13 March 2012, fixed by 99% EtOH, deposited in Ryukyu University Museum Fujukan , Okinawa, Japan ( RUMF) .
Paratype 3: Specimen number RMNH Coel. 41502. Zatsun, Okinawa, Japan (26°49′42″ N, 128°14′33″ E), 23 m depth. Collected by T.F., 24 October 2010, fixed GoogleMaps
by 99% EtOH, deposited in Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (RMNH).
Other materials
Specimen number MISE-TF-101. Sunabe Beach, Okinawa, Japan, 15 m depth. Collected by T.F., 16 June 2011, half of colony fixed in 5–10% formalin, other half of colony fixed in 99% EtOH. Specimen number MISE-TF-143. Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. 10 m depth. Collected by T.F., 20 April 2012, fixed by 99% EtOH .
Common name
Kakure-sunaginchaku (new Japanese name), Okinawan nanozoanthid.
Diagnosis
Morphology: Colonies with up to 20 well-developed polyps connected by narrow stolons. Polyps cylindrical. Polyp diameter up to 1.8 mm, average 1.1 mm (n = 30 polyps from five colonies, standard variation = 0.38 mm), height up to 4.5 mm, average 2.35 mm (n = 30 polyps from five colonies, standard variation = 0.96 mm). Between 16 and 20 tentacles (n = 9 polyps), 1.0–2.5 times as long as diameter of oral disc. Oral disc forming concave depression. Distal tip of contracted polyps rounded. Mineral particles encrusted in column from aboral end to edge of oral disc. Irregularly sized particles encrusted into ectoderm and few particles in mesoglea. Tentacles transparent, with tiny brown dots visible upon magnification (= individual zooxanthellae). Zigzagged, white colour pattern following outside edge of oral disc. Oral disc brown, occasionally white.
Internal morphology: Macrocnemic. Mesentery number same as tentacle number. Ten perfect mesenteries, eight macrocnemes. Marginal mesogleal sphincter muscle. No lacunae or ring sinus.
Symbiosis: Zooxanthellate. Symbiodinium subclade C 3 in three polyps from three different sites around Okinawa Island, Japan ( Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ).
Cnidae: Holotrichs in column; basitrichs and microbasic p-mastigophores in filaments; basitrichs, microbasic p-mastigophores, and holotrichs in tentacles ( Table 2).
Habitat: Nanozoanthus harenaceus sp. nov. occurs on rocky substrates on the slopes of coral reefs. Almost all observed colonies almost completely buried in sand ‘pools’ that formed in small pockets or depressions in the hard coral substrate of reef slopes, with only tentacles and oral disc protuding above the surface of sand when polyps open ( Fig. 3A View Figure 3 ). Found from the east and west coasts of Okinawa Island, Japan. Depth 9–27 m.
DNA sequences: GenBank accession numbers: COI, KF499609 View Materials ; 16S rDNA, KF499601 View Materials , with Symbiodinium ITS rDNA sequences KF499598 View Materials .
Remarks
Only one species has been described in Nanazoanthidae fam. nov., and the diagnostic characters are as for family above. Internal morphology is unavailable for the holotype because the encrusted sand inhibited making useable sections of the polyps.
The distribution of family Nanozoanthidae fam. nov. is currently known from only a few sites in Okinawa and from one site in western Australia. The lack of reports or other information undoubtedly results from the difficulty in finding colonies because of their tiny size and the cryptic appearance of the polyps. This species is one of the smallest zoanthids described, along with Caribbean Parazoanthus parasiticus (Duchassaing and Michelotii, 1860) and some unidentified sponge-associated Parazoanthidae spp. from the Pacific, with all of these species having polyp diameters of <2 mm. Additionally, the transparent and sandy body colour make N. harenaceus sp. nov. very cryptic, in contrast to the bright body colours of many sponge-associated zoanthids. Therefore, this small and cryptic zoanthid is likely to have a wider distribution in the Indo-Pacific than is described here.
The two specimens from Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, are considered to be an undescribed species of genus Nanozoanthus gen. nov. by the results of molecular analyses. Additional specimens from regions other than Okinawa of colonies with enough polyps to properly observe both molecular and morphological characters are needed to more fully explore the species diversity of Nanozoanthus gen. nov.
Etymology
Named from the latin ‘harenaceus’ meaning ‘sandy’, as living polyps are buried in sand and resemble particles or clumps of sand because of their small size, and for the coloration of the oral disc and tentacles.
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8AF484C9-B2EC-41D5-BA3F-A6764CE34DB8 .
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
Kingdom |
|
Phylum |
|
Class |
|
Order |
|
Family |
|
Genus |