Eunephthya granulata, Mcfadden, Catherine S. & Van, Leen P., 2012

Mcfadden, Catherine S. & Van, Leen P., 2012, A revision of the soft coral genus, Eunephthya Verrill, 1869 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Nephtheidae), with a description of four new species from South Africa, Zootaxa 3485, pp. 1-25 : 12-14

Eunephthya granulata , new species

Figures 3a, 4c, 7–8

Material examined. Holotype: RMNH Coel. 40179, South Africa, Algoa Bay, White Sands 6, 34º00.368'S, 25º43.166'E, depth 21–25 m, coll. B. Picton, 12 March 2008.

Description. The holotype is a small, bushy colony, 1.6 cm tall with a well-demarcated, narrow stalk and much wider polyparium (Fig. 4c). The stalk is 0.6 cm long and 0.5 cm in diameter, with longitudinal furrows and numerous transverse wrinkles. The polyparium is more or less spherical, 1.0 cm tall and 1.2 cm in diameter, and consists of catkins bearing 12–20 polyps each that arise directly from the top of the stalk. The polyps are clubshaped and curved inwards with the oral surface facing the catkin axis; most have the tentacles contracted. Large sclerites distributed uniformly over the abaxial surface of the polyps give the colony surface a granular appearance.

Sclerites are distributed asymmetrically around the body of the polyp. The polyp’s convex abaxial surface is heavily armed with unilaterally spinose spindles and a few plates (Fig. 7a) and asymmetrical clubs (Fig. 7b), 0.11– 0.26 mm long, with simple to complex tubercles. These sclerites are oriented with spines protruding outward. The concave adaxial surface of the polyp has transverse rows of spindles, 0.23–0.26 mm long, with simple to complex tubercles (Fig. 7c). The bases of the tentacles have small spindles, 0.06–0.15 mm long, with simple tubercles, distally becoming flatter with fewer tubercles (Fig. 7d). The surface and interior of the stalk have radiates, 0.04– 0.11 mm long (Fig. 8).

FIGURE. 7. Eunephthya granulata n. sp., holotype, RMNH Coel. 40179; a, unilaterally spinose spindles and plates of abaxial surface of polyp; b, clubs of abaxial surface of polyp; c, spindles of adaxial surface of polyp; d, tentacle sclerites.

Color. In life, orange-brown (Fig. 3a); dark brown in alcohol. Sclerites colorless. Etymology. Derived from the Latin granum, meaning a grain, in reference to the granular surface of the polyps.

Remarks. The colony growth form of E. granulata n. sp., in which catkins densely covered with polyps arise directly from the top of a narrow stalk, is unlike that of any other species of Eunephthya . Its sclerites are also unique, in particular the form of the radiates in the stalk (Fig. 8), which are less compact than those of the other species. E. granulata is genetically distinct from all other Eunephthya species (Fig. 1), differing by 1–5% at all three loci.

FIGURE. 8. Eunephthya granulata n. sp., holotype, RMNH Coel. 40179; radiates of stalk.