Xenia grasshoffi Verseveldt, 1974
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4652.2.1 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:04D7DC4C-5EBC-4C5A-9E68-7795E8E60ECA |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5944964 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/967E5C11-AC23-900D-FF5A-FC7416D4F94D |
treatment provided by |
Plazi |
scientific name |
Xenia grasshoffi Verseveldt, 1974 |
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Xenia grasshoffi Verseveldt, 1974
Fig. 8 View FIGURE 8
Xenia grasshoffi ; Verseveldt, 1974a: 34–35, Fig. 34
Material. Holotype: SMF 2616 About SMF , northern Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Eilat, 1968, coll. M. Grasshoff.
Description. The holotype is 28 mm high; its stalk is 23 mm long, 10 mm wide at its base and 25 mm wide at the uppermost part. The polyp body is up to 3 mm long, and the tentacles are up to 2 mm long, featuring four rows of pinnules on each side. The pinnules are relatively short and stout, up to 0.24 mm long and 0.20 mm wide, 15–24 in the outermost row with no gap between adjacent pinnules.
Sclerites are ellipsoid platelets, measuring 0.009 –0.017 X 0.015 –0.023 mm in diameter ( Fig. 8 View FIGURE 8 a–d, n=27). Occasionally, a crest is present on the surface of the sclerite ( Fig. 8b, d View FIGURE 8 ). Rarely, a median waist can be seen ( Fig. 8a View FIGURE 8 ). They are composed of calcite rods arranged radially, and at the center of the sclerite they are randomly arranged ( Fig. 8b, c View FIGURE 8 ). Many of the sclerites are fractured ( Fig. 8a, b, d View FIGURE 8 ). The ethanol-preserved holotype is light cream in color and polyps are almost white.
Remarks. The current findings correspond to the original description of X. grasshoffi ( Verseveldt 1974a: four rows and 15–24 pinnules vs. four and occasionally five rows and 16–20 pinnules, respectively). The sclerites were originally described as: "spicules of general xeniid type: round or oval corpuscle" and the current measurements reveal that their size corresponds to the original description (0.009 –0.017 X 0.015 –0.023 vs. 0.024 in the stalk and 0.021 in the tentacles, respectively).
Similar species. Xenia flexibilis n. sp. and X. grasshoffi feature four rows of pinnules and a certain overlap in the number of pinnules in the outermost row (14–32 vs. 15–24). However, the sclerites of X. grasshoffi feature surface crests which are absent in X. flexibilis and thus they should be considered as separate species.
Distribution. Red Sea.
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.
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