Xeniidae Ehrenberg, 1828

Halasz, Anna, McFadden, Catherine S., Aharonovich, Dafna, Toonen, Robert & Benayahu, Yehuda, 2014, A revision of the octocoral genus Ovabunda Alderslade, 2001 (Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Xeniidae), ZooKeys 373, pp. 1-41 : 6

Family Xeniidae Ehrenberg, 1828

Ovabunda Genus Alderslade, 2001: 49-52.

Diagnosis.

Colonies are small and soft with cylindrical stalks, undivided or branched, terminating in one or more domed polyp-bearing regions. Polyps are not retractile and are always monomorphic. Sclerites are oval spheroids, usually abundant in all parts of the colony, mostly up to 0.035 mm in maximal diameter, and comprised of a mass of minute corpuscle-shaped microscleres.

Key to species

1	Non-pulsating polyps in live colonies
1.1	One row of pinnules on each side of the tentacles
	6-7 pinnules in each row	Ovabunda benayahui
	12-18 pinnules in each row	Ovabunda verseveldti (No data on pulsation present in the literature)
1.2	Mostly one row, but sometimes two rows of pinnules on each side of the tentacles
	18-22 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda gohari
1.3	Two rows of pinnules on each side of the tentacles
	8-11 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda impulsatilla
	13-16 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda biseriata
	17-24 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda faraunensis
	24-29 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda arabica
1.4	Mostly two, but sometimes three rows of pinnules in the outermost row
	12-16 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda crenata
1.5	Three rows of pinnules on each side of the tentacles
	15-20 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda ainex
1.6	Mostly three but sometimes four rows of pinnules in the outermost row
	17-22 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda hamsina
2	Pulsating polyps in live colonies
2.1	Three rows of pinnules on each side of the tentacles
	14-18 pinnules in the outermost row	Ovabunda macrospiculata