Towards a revision of the nephtheidae (coelenterata: octocorallia)

Ofwegen, L.P. van (2007)

Doctoral Thesis

The current classification of the Nephtheidae (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) is still based on colony morphology. In this family the Indo-Pacific genera Litophyton, Nephthea, Dendronephthya and Stereonephthya, and the Atlantic genus Neospongodes form a complex mix of closely related, poorly described species, which cannot be recognized using only colony morphology. Attempts with the more modern approach of comparing skeleton composition (sclerites) resulted in describing the genus Chromonephthea Ofwegen, 2005, introduced for several species previously assigned to Dendronephthya, Nephthea and Stereonephthya. In Chromonephthea 53 species were included, 34 of which were new to science. However, the true generic status of the majority of the nominal nephtheid species remained unresolved. In an attempt to clarify the phylogenetic relationships fourteen specimens have been used in molecular analyses. Two clades were supported, which were related to the shape of the sclerites present in the polyp stalks. One clade contained the specimens with characters for Stereonephthya along with a Chromonephthea specimen as a sister group. The other clade had a __true__ Nephthea and Litophyton together with the specimens that could not be placed in any particular genus using the old classification criteria. The consequences of these results for nephtheid classification are discussed.

• Cnidaria
• Anthozoa
• Octocorallia
• Nephtheidae
• Chromonephthea
• Litophyton
• Nephthea
• Stereonephthya
• taxonomy
• Indo-Pacific

• All authors: Ofwegen, L.P. van
• Supervisor: Gittenberger, E.
• Co-supervisor: Hoeksema, B.W.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2007-11-06