Acropora fastigata Nemenzo, 1967

van der Meij, Sancia E. T. & Visser, Rémon R., 2011, The Acropora Humilis Group (Scleractinia) Of The Snellius Expedition (1929 - 30), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 59 (1), pp. 9-17 : 15

Acropora fastigata Nemenzo, 1967

( Fig. 3h–j )

Acropora fastigata Nemenzo, 1967: 134–135 , pl. 37 fig. 3, pl. 38 fig. 1.

Acropora fastigata Nemenzo, 1981: 156–157 , fig. 167; Nemenzo, 1986: 116-117, fig. 133; Veron, 2000: 331.

Material examined. – Indonesia, Paternoster Islands, Sailus Besar ( RMNH Coel.39899) ; Philippines, Sulu Isl., Sipangkot near Sibutu ( RMNH Coel.39566–39567) .

Short description. – Colony corymbose to digitate; branches markedly tapering to narrow, conical apex, 15–25 mm in diameter and up to 110 mm long, often with incipient branchlets at base of branches, appearing like a tall axial corallite with few tubular radial corallites. Axial corallite very prominent, outer diameter 2.1–4.0 mm; radial corallites unevenly distributed and in different sizes, incipient radial corallites at base of branch, immersed corallites visible, tubular to downwards nariform with round openings.

Biogeography. – Wallace (1999) considered the validity of this species insufficiently known, but provisionally included it in the A. humilis group. This species was originally described by Nemenzo from Malotamban Isl., Palawan, where it was seen as rare ( Nemenzo, 1967, 1986). On the recent Red List coral assessment of the IUCN the species was listed as data deficient ( Carpenter et al., 2008). The Snellius specimens are strikingly similar to the A. fastigata pictured and described by Nemenzo (1986), and therefore identified as A. fastigata . The species was listed by Fenner (2001a) from Banggi Isl., Kudat (northern tip of Borneo), but no picture is available to confirm this record. Similarly the species was reported from the Togian Islands ( Fenner, 2001b). Veron (2000) shows pictures of A. fastigata from the Calamian Isl. (just north of Palawan, north-western Philippines), and Flores (Indonesia). The new records for A. fastigata at Sipangkot and the Paternoster Islands are in line with these records.

Figures

Fig. 3a-j. A. digitifera: a, complete specimen, b, branch (both RMNH Coel.39564); A. multiacuta: c, complete specimen (RMNH Coel.39601), d, close-up (RMNH Coel.39904), e, branch (RMNH Coel.39603); A. retusa: f, complete specimen (RMNH Coel.39607), g, branch (RMNH Coel.39604); A. fastigata: h, branch (RMNH Coel.39566), i-j, close-ups (both RMNH Coel.39567). Scale bars 2 cm: left scale bar for a, c-d, f, h; right scale bar for b, e, g, i-j.