Eugorgia Verrill, 1868

Horvath, Elizabeth Anne, 2019, A review of gorgonian coral species (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) held in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History research collection: focus on species from Scleraxonia, Holaxonia, Calcaxonia - Part II: Species of Holaxonia, families Gorgoniidae and Plexauridae, ZooKeys 860, pp. 67-182 : 67

Genus Eugorgia Verrill, 1868

Lophogorgia (pars) Horn, 1860: 233.

Gorgonia (pars) Verrill, 1864: 33; 1866: 327.

Leptogorgia Verrill, 1864: 32.

Eugorgia (pars) Verrill, 1868c: 414.

Eugorgia Verrill, 1868b: 406-407. Studer 1887: 64-65. Bielschowsky 1918: 39. Kükenthal 1924: 343. Bielschowsky 1929: 170. Stiasny 1951: 63. Bayer 1951: 99; 1981: 921. Breedy et al. 2009: 8.

Type species.

Leptogorgia ampla Verrill, 1864; by subsequent designation Verrill 1868b: 386.

Diagnosis.

Breedy et al. (2009) did a thorough review of this genus (well represented in the SBMNH collection). Sclerites chiefly disc spindles, capstans or double discs (wheels); double discs up to 0.05 mm long, spindles 0.12-0.18 mm, not developed as clubs; ordinary spindles present in small numbers in some species. Anthocodiae unarmed; sclerites, if present, flat rods and platelets with lobed margins. Polyps fully retractile into coenenchyme, slightly raised to prominent mounds, forming polyp-mounds, in longitudinal rows; often evenly distributed on all sides of branches. Branching is lateral, dichotomous (partial) or pinnate-like, in one plane; if bushy, branches in multiple planes; no anastomoses. Axis contains network of frequently mineralized organic filaments. Colony colors quite variable, depending on species.