Leiopathes glaberrima (Esper, 1792)

Figs. 10, 11, 12

? Antipathes clathrata Pallas, 1766: 212; Esper, 1788: pl. 2; Esper, 1792: 141; Lamarck 1815: 475; Lamarck, 1816: 309; Lamouroux, 1816: 382.

? Arachnopathes clathrata Milne–Edwards, Haime, 1857: 320; Brook, 1889:164;

Antipathes glaberrima Esper, 1792: 160, pl. 9 (1–5); Lamarck, 1815: 471; Lamarck, 1816: 306; Dana, 1846: 585; Pourtalès, 1880: 118, pl. 3(2, 28); Koch, 1889:194; Pesch, 1914: 86; Pax, Müller, 1955:107; 1964:104; Tyler, Zibrowius, 1992: 217.

Leiopathes glaberrima Haime, 1849: 284 –287; Gray, 1857: 290; Milne–Edwards, Haime, 1857: 322; Brook, 1889: 95, pl.4 (8–9), pl.12 (21–22), pl.15 (3–5); Silberfeld, 1909: 4; van Pesch, 1914: 76–77; Gravier, 1918a: 343;1918b: 225;, 1921: 14; Opresko, 1974: 116; Grasshoff, 1989: 215; Grasshoff, 1990: 361; Van der Land & Opresko, 2001:109; Opresko, 1998: 99, 100, 101, 107, 110; Molodtsova, 2011: 52–64; fig 3, 5, 6; Wagner e Opresko, 2015: 277–289; fig 5; Molodtsova, 2014: 4–5; Grasshoff, 1985a: 73.

? Antipathes boscii Lamouroux, 1816: 375, pl. 14 (5); Dana, 1846: 584; Milne–Edwards, Haime, 1857: 318.

? Leiopathes boscii Gray, 1857: 290 .

? Antipathes dichotoma (non Pallas, 1766) Gray, 1832: 41.

? Antipathes dissecta Duchassaing, Michelotti, 1864: 142; Pourtalès, 1871: 53.

non Leiopathes glaberrima Johnson, 1899: 817; Opresko & Baron–Szabo, 2001: 16–17 (complete list of synonyms).

Type and type locality. SMF 5887 (holotype), Sea of Naples, depth unknown .

Material examined. ERG–165, Rio Grande Rise, 30º12’49.68”S, 36º50’9.6”W; 750–800 m, date: 11/02/2012 (MNRJ 8599, 10 frozen specimens). PROA, off Santa Catarina, Brazil, 28º15’0”S, 47º7’0.001”W; 360 m, date: 23/09/2002 (MNRJ 6585, 1 fragment). Rio Grande Rise, 30º44’4.2”S, 36º44’51”W; Initial depth: 650 m; final depth: 585 m. PROERG/ CPRM. ERG–185. Dredge 03/12/2012 (MNRJ 8579, 1 fragment). Rio Grande Rise, 30º12’49.68”S, 36º50’9.6”W; Initial depth: 750 m; final depth: 800 m. PROERG/ CPRM. EST.: ERG–165. Date 11/02/2012. Amostr.: Dredge (MNRJ 8593, 35 fragments).

Diagnosis. Corallum with long, crooked and irregular branches. Terminal branchlets usually 1–2 cm long, but up to 4 cm; 0.2–0.7 mm in basal diameter; 1–2 cm apart from each other, and usually arising at right angles from the branchlets from which they depart. Spines small, conical, simple and smooth; 0.02–0.06 mm high; absent on larger branches and stem. Polyps variable in size, 0.7–2.0 mm in diameter; equally wide in both sagittal and transverse axes; or slightly longer along sagittal axis; occurring in a density of 4–7 per centimeter (adapted from Opresko & Baron–Szabo, 2001 and Molodtsova, 2011).

Description of Brazilian specimens. Corallum sympodial irregularly branched, without pinnules, with branches in more than one plane (Fig. 10a). Corallum usually branched up to the 8th order (Fig. 11a). Terminal branchlets arising irregularly on lower order branches (Fig. 10b). Terminal branchlets measuring between 3 and 40 mm in length, more common 7–30 mm (Fig. 11b). Diameter of terminal branchlets near the base between 0.19 and 0.5 mm, usually close to 0.3 mm. Diameter of tips of terminal branchlets approximately 0.1 mm, ranging between 0.05 and 0.19 mm. Corallum brownish. Angle of insertion of branches between 30° and 70°, being more common between 40° and 60°. Distance between adjacent branchlets 2–5 mm, ranging from 3 to 8 mm, with 3–5 branchlets per centimeter. Spines arranged in up to 6 rows (in lateral view), but usually 3–4, absent on larger branches and stem, with tips round and smooth (Fig. 10 c–d; Fig. 11 c–d). Spines 0.02–0.07 mm high, being more common 0.02–0.05 mm. Width of base of spines varying between 0.036 and 0.100 mm. Spines in a same row 0.09–0.95 mm apart, in densities of 2–5 spines per millimeter. Polyps 0.9–2.3 mm in diameter, with density of 4–6 polyps per centimeter.

Remarks. Leiopathes glaberrima (Esper, 1792) is the oldest name within the family Leiopathidae, and has been mistakenly reported for several localities (Molodtsova, 2011; Wagner & Opresko, 2015). The species was redescribed by Opresko & Baron-Szabo (2001), based on the specimens collected by Brook (1889), since the type is incomplete. The specimen described here presents terminal branchlets with a slightly thicker basal diameter than that described by Molodtsova (2011) (up to 0.50 mm in our specimens, and about 0.22 mm in Molodtsova, 2011), but within the range provided by Opresko & Baron-Szabo (2001) (0.5–0.7 mm). The present record of Leiopathes glaberrima (off Santa Catarina), reinforces the tropical/temperate distribution indicated for this species (Wagner & Opresko, 2015).

Distribution. Wide geographic distribution, with type locality in the Mediterranean Sea, Naples Sea (Opresko & Baron–Szabo, 2001); north Atlantic, including Caribbean Sea (Wagner & Opresko, 2015); southwestern Atlantic, Rio Grande Rise (herein), and Brazil, off Santa Catarina (herein) (Fig. 12); from 37 m (Opresko, 2009) to 2400 m depths (Smithsonian, USNM 1112700, identified by D. M. Opresko; available in <http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/ search/iz/>).