Description

Description. Holotype is a small (defectively preserved) colony (<40 mm long), 5 mm diameter with 18 mm of base (Fig. 43 G). Cortex pale brown. All sclerites colourless. Surface cortex with radiate sclerites (mostly 8 ­ radiates) with star­like sub­radial ornamentation (Fig. 43 A – D). Surface sclerites up to 0.09 mm long averaging 0.08 (0.007 SD, n = 10). Surface radiates about 1.7 times longer than wide, averaging 0.047 mm in width (0.004 SD, n = 10). Other intermediate forms in the boundary layer include irregularly enlarged radial ornamentation (Fig. 43 E). Medulla with thick, blunt, short, mostly smooth, straight spindles, ornate only at tips, usually less than 0.25 mm in length (Fig. 43 F). Morphological variation. As in S. weberi, medullar spindles in S. tautahi sp. nov. are progressively less ornate towards the inner medulla, achieving higher variation at the boundary layer (e. g., Fig. 43 E). Some of the medullar sclerites are also quite robust and fatter than others (Fig. 43 F).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Order: Scleralcyonacea

Family: Coralliidae

Genus: Sibogagorgia

Species: Sibogagorgia tautahi Sánchez, 2005