Plumarella Gray, 1870

Cairns, Stephen D. & Rodriguez-Bermudez, Adriana, 2024, A new species of Plumarella (Octocorallia: Calcaxonia: Primnoidae) from the Northeast Pacific, and the redescription of Plumarella longispina Kinoshita, 1908, Zootaxa 5477 (3), pp. 387-396 : 388

Genus Plumarella Gray, 1870

Plumarella Gray, 1870: 36 .— Cairns & Bayer, 2009: 39 (revision).— Cairns, 2011: 7–9 (list of species).— Cairns, 2016: 51–52 (discussion).— Cairns & Wirshing, 2018:18 (molecular phylogeny).

Type Species. Gorgonia penna Lamarck, 1815 .

Diagnosis. Colonies usually branch pinnately or dichotomously in a uniplanar fashion. Polyps arranged in an alternate, biserial fashion or crowded on all sides of branches. Polyps covered with eight longitudinal rows of body wall scales, the four pairs of rows usually consisting of a different number of scales. Marginal scales arranged in one circlet, and do not fold over the operculum; distal edge of marginal scales may be pointed, spinose, or straight. Distal inner face of marginals smooth or ridged, but never keeled.

Remarks. Including the new species described herein, there are 33 valid species in the genus. This number results from the elevation of two subgenera: Faxiella Zapata-Guardiola & López-González, 2012 and Verticillata Zapata-Guardiola, López-González & Gili, 2012 , to generic level and the synonymy of the subgenus Dicholaphis Kinoshita 1907 with the nominal subgenus, as a result of molecular analysis ( Cairns & Wirshing, 2018).

Distribution. Indo-Pacific, western Atlantic, Subantarctic, 10–3182 m ( Cairns, 2011).