Figs 9 D–G, 10A; Table 5
Sertularella leiocarpoides Vervoort, 1993: 223, fig. 49.
BATHUS 2: Stn. CP737, a 5 cm high, sterile colony devoid of hydrorhiza (MNHN-IK-2012-16581).
BATHUS 3:Stn.DW829,a 3.5cm high colony fragment bearing one gonotheca(MNHN-IK-2012-16582); Stn. DW830, a 5 cm high and 7.5 cm wide sterile colony (MNHN-IK-2012-16583).
SALOMON 1: Stn. DW1741, a 2 cm high, sterile colony (MNHN-IK-2012-16584).
The four available specimens were compared to a colony of Sertularella leiocarpa ( Allman, 1888) from Inaccessible Island (see Galea 2015b). Portions of three of them are illustrated altogether with S. leiocarpa, so as to show their specific differences (compare Fig. 5 D–F and 5G). As already noted by Vervoort (1993), the internodes are thick, short and geniculate in S. leiocarpoides, and comparatively more slender, longer, and less geniculate in S. leiocarpa. In addition, the hydrothecae of Vervoort’s species have the adaxial cusps characteristically upturned, and there are generally also two inconspicuous latero-adaxial, internal, submarginal projections of the perisarc and, occasionally, a third one, on the abaxial side.
New Caledonia ( Vervoort 1993; present study), Solomon Islands (present study).