Corymbophyton, Mcfadden & Van Ofwegen, 2017

Mcfadden, Catherine S. & Van Ofwegen, Leen P., 2017, Revisionary systematics of the endemic soft coral fauna (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Alcyoniina) of the Agulhas Bioregion, South Africa, Zootaxa 4363 (4), pp. 451-488 : 466

Corymbophyton , new genus

Type species. Protodendron bruuni Bayer, 1995 by original designation

Diagnosis. As for the family.

Etymology. From the Greek korymbos, a cluster of flowers, and phyton, a creature (plant or animal), denoting the arrangement of polyps in small clusters that arise from a common stolon. Gender: neutral.

Remarks. Corymbophyton n. gen. shares its unique colony growth form, in which polyps are fused only along the proximal half of their length, with Protodendron repens (Thomson & Henderson) . In that genus, however, clubs are absent, and the only sclerite forms found in the polyps and stolon are spindles and rods (Bayer 1995). DNA sequences from P. repens (ZMTAU CO36002) suggest that it is not close to P. bruuni phylogenetically, and its familial affiliation is unclear. It does not belong to the same clade as Acrophytidae n. fam. and Leptophytidae n. fam. ( Fig. 1 ). These differences justify the establishment of a new genus for P. bruuni .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of Octocorallia based on combined, partitioned analysis of 28S rDNA, COI and 16S mtDNA.South African species and clades are identified in blue. Filled circles indicate nodes with>70% bootstrap support and Bayesian posterior probabilities>0.95 (shown for South African clades only). Strongly supported clades (bootstrap 70%) with no South African members have been collapsed to facilitate readability. Phylogenetic position of Protodendron repens indicated with *.