Published April 22, 2021 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Unomia Benayahu & Van Ofwegen & Ruiz Allais & Mcfadden 2021, gen. n.

  • 1. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P. O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. ofwegen @ yahoo. com
  • 2. Fundacion la Tortuga, Estado AnzoĆ”tegui, 6016, Venezuela. juanbioloogy @ googlemail. com
  • 3. Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. mcfadden @ g. hmc. edu

Description

Unomia gen. n.

Type species Cespitularia stolonifera Gohar, 1938: 483-485, plate I, here designated.

Diagnosis. Colonies soft with a stalk, commonly divided into branches. Polyps monomorphic and non-retractile, mostly clustering on a polyp-bearing region (polypary). Noticeably, individual polyps are also found on the stalk, branches or the membranous base of the colonies thus indicating the diffuse nature of the distribution of the more proximal polyps. Sclerites present as ellipsoid platelets, abundant in all parts of the colony. They reach up to 0.025 mm in maximal diameter, and are composed of densely placed calcite rods whose tips are distinct on the surface of the platelets, commonly providing them with a granular appearance. The rods are mostly uniform in width (0.001 - 0.002 mm). During dehydration for SEM purposes some sclerites may fracture. Zooxanthellate.

Etymology. The generic name is derived from the Latin: unum, which refers to solitary. Here it denotes the individual polyps randomly found on the divided stalk or on branches below the polypary level. Gender: feminine.

Notes

Published as part of Benayahu, Yehuda, Van Ofwegen, Leen P., Ruiz Allais, J. P. & Mcfadden, Catherine S., 2021, Revisiting the type of Cespitularia stolonifera Gohar, 1938 leads to the description of a new genus and a species of the family Xeniidae (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea), pp. 330-344 in Zootaxa 4964 (2) on page 332, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4964.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4709507

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Family
Xeniidae
Genus
Unomia
Kingdom
Animalia
Order
Alcyonacea
Phylum
Cnidaria
Scientific name authorship
Benayahu & Van Ofwegen & Ruiz Allais & Mcfadden
Taxonomic status
gen. nov.
Taxon rank
genus
Taxonomic concept label
Unomia Benayahu, Ofwegen, Allais & Mcfadden, 2021

References

  • Gohar, H. A. F. (1938) On a new species of Cespitularia and two invalid species of Xenia and Clavularia. Journal of Zoology, B 108, 483 - 487. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1469 - 7998.1938. tb 08526. x