Erythrastrea, PICHON, SCHEER & PILLAI IN SCHEER & PILLAI, 1983: 104

Huang, Danwei, Benzoni, Francesca, Fukami, Hironobu, Knowlton, Nancy, Smith, Nathan D. & Budd, Ann F., 2014, Taxonomic classification of the reef coral families Merulinidae, Montastraeidae, and Diploastraeidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 171 (2), pp. 277-355 : 313-314

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1111/zoj.12140

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6A35B423-185E-FFD5-85CF-8AC4FF28FA02

treatment provided by

Marcus

scientific name

Erythrastrea
status

 

GENUS ERYTHRASTREA PICHON, SCHEER & PILLAI IN SCHEER & PILLAI, 1983: 104 View in CoL ( FIG. 12 View Figure 12 )

Type species

Erythrastrea flabellata Pichon, Scheer & Pillai View in CoL in Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104, pl. 26: figs 3, 4; original designation, Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104.

Original description

‘Phaceloid, branches flabellate, compressed, epithecate. Wall thin. Calices meandering, valleys short or long and sinuous, 5 to 10 mm wide, 4 to 5 mm deep. Columella centres distinct, formed of septal fusion, adjacent ones linked by indistinct lamellae. Septa exsert vertically, edges dentate. Costae very conspicuous, extend to the base of the flabellate branches, often linked by transverse ridges.’ ( Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104).

Subsequent descriptions

Veron, 1986: 595; Sheppard & Sheppard, 1991: 122; Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 98.

Diagnosis

Colonial, with intracalicular budding only. Corallites monomorphic and uniserial; monticules absent. Phaceloid (flabello-meandroid). Calice width medium (4–15 mm), with medium relief (3–6 mm). Septa in three cycles (24– 36 septa). Free septa present but irregular. Septa spaced <six septa per 5 mm. Costosepta equal in relative thickness. Columellae trabecular and spongy (> three threads), <1/4 of calice width, and continuous amongst adjacent corallites. Paliform (uniaxial) and septal (multiaxial) lobes may be present but weak. Epitheca reduced or absent and endotheca abundant (vesicular) ( Fig. 12 View Figure 12 ).

Species included

Erythrastrea flabellata Pichon, Scheer & Pillai View in CoL in Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104, pl. 26: figs 3, 4 (see Cairns, 1991: 33); lectotype (designated herein): USNM 78094 (dry specimen; Fig. 12 View Figure 12 ); paralectotypes (designated herein): ZMTAU NS 6062, 6063 (two dry specimens); type locality: Ghardaqa, Egypt; phylogenetic data: none.

Taxonomic remarks

Erythrastrea Pichon, Scheer & Pillai in Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104 View in CoL is a monotypic genus that is known only from the Red Sea. In the original description of its species titled ‘ Erythrastrea flabellata Pichon, Scheer and Pillai View in CoL , in press’, the authors list as paratypes USNM Wa 75a, b collected from Ghardaqa, Egypt, and NS 6062, 6063 from Tel Aviv, Israel, without any mention of a holotype. Cairns, 1991: 33, explains that the paper cited was never published, stating that ‘Both the generic and species descriptions of Scheer & Pillai (1983) satisfy the requirements of the Code and therefore should be considered as the original descriptions’.

Furthermore, Cairns (1991) lists USNM 78094 About USNM as a ‘paratype’, in accordance with the original description. As, to our knowledge, no holotype has been specified, we consider USNM 78094 About USNM , NS 6062 and NS 6063 to be a syntype series, from which we designate the USNM specimen that is the basis of our genus diagnosis as lectotype for Erythrastrea flabellata View in CoL .

Erythrastrea has only been recorded in northern and central Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

Morphological remarks: Erythrastrea has never been collected for molecular work or subcorallite morphology, and only macromorphological characters can be examined here.

Veron (1986: 595) described the genus as similar to Caulastraea based on ‘skeletal structures’, and it is also like Trachyphyllia (and Nemenzophyllia ) because of the flabello-meandroid colony form.

Based on the holotype, we diagnosed Erythrastrea as matching in all but one character each with Caulastraea (discrete instead of uniserial) and Oulophyllia (fused walls instead of phaceloid), suggesting possible placement of the genus within subclade XVII-D/E ( Caulastraea + Oulophyllia + Pectinia + Mycedium ). It does not have the strong septal (multiaxial) lobes seen in Trachyphyllia , and its internal lobes are even weaker than in Caulastraea and Oulophyllia . A fine epitheca may be present – unlike in the latter genera – but the thin walls and phaceloid form are indicative of its close affinity to Caulastraea , as interpreted by Scheer & Pillai (1983: 104).

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Cnidaria

Class

Anthozoa

Order

Scleractinia

Family

Merulinidae

Loc

Erythrastrea

Huang, Danwei, Benzoni, Francesca, Fukami, Hironobu, Knowlton, Nancy, Smith, Nathan D. & Budd, Ann F. 2014
2014
Loc

ERYTHRASTREA PICHON, SCHEER & PILLAI IN SCHEER & PILLAI, 1983: 104

Scheer G & Pillai CSG 1983: 104
1983
Loc

Erythrastrea flabellata

Scheer G & Pillai CSG 1983: 104
Scheer G & Pillai CSG 1983: 104
1983
Loc

Erythrastrea Pichon, Scheer & Pillai in Scheer & Pillai, 1983: 104

Cairns SD 1991: 33
Scheer G & Pillai CSG 1983: 104
1983
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