Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868

Breedy, Odalisca & Guzman, Hector M., 2011, A revision of the genus Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae), Zootaxa 2995, pp. 27-44 : 28-29

Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868

Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868: 413 ; Verrill 1869: 450 (emended); Studer 1887: 57; Wright & Studer 1889: 55; Nutting 1910: 87; Kükenthal 1919: 844; Kükenthal 1924: 229 –230; Bayer 1956: F206; Harden 1979: 112; Bayer 1981: 931; Castro 1990: 412 –415; Breedy & Guzman 2005: 801 –803; Vargas et al. 2010: 4; Castro et al. 2010: 776 .

Type species: Heterogorgia verrucosa Verrill, 1868 , by subsequent designation ( Nutting 1910: 87).

Diagnosis. (see also Verrill 1868; Castro 1990; Castro et al. 2010; Breedy & Guzman 2005).

The axis is horny, and colonies are composed of a number of stout stems that branch laterally and irregularly and arise from a conspicuous spreading holdfast. Coenenchyme is thin to moderately thick, mostly with a granulose surface. All sclerites are colourless. Coenenchymal sclerites are: radiates, strongly and unevenly tuberculated spindles, that may be branched, irregular spindle-derived forms, and crosses with the four arms of the same or different length. Polyps are retractile within protruding calyces; neck zone of the anthocodiae is without sclerites. Polyps are from bright yellow to colourless when alive and whitish when preserved in ethanol. Anthocodiae have a well defined collaret consisting of transverse rows of long, strong, bent spindles, and points consisting of long spiny spindles en chevron; some of the point spindles have a spiny tip which is in distal position. These sclerites vary in size and shape according to the species, but the same basic forms occur in each species. Calyces are prominent with a lobed rim that is armed with different numbers of whorls of strongly projecting thorns whose size and ornamentation is characteristic of each species. In carefully dried specimens the thorn arrangements of the calyx rim can be easily observed. According to Verrill (1868) the name Heterogorgia alludes to the remarkable diversity in the sizes and shapes of the sclerites.

The colour of the colonies is white, beige or greyish; when the colonies are dry or ethanol preserved, they acquire darker hues.

Remarks. About 14 species, excluding Verrill’s species, have been assigned to this genus ( Pallas 1766; Germanos 1896; Thomson & Henderson 1905; Thomson & Crane 1909; Nutting 1910; Kükenthal 1924), which present a wide morphological diversity, corroborating Verrill’s (1912) statement that Heterogorgia was misunderstood by Nutting (1910) and some other authors. In reality, the genus probably became a “catch all” because it was not properly defined by Verrill himself, as mentioned above. The errant species, still recorded as belonging to Heterogorgia , fit in the genera, Astromuricea Germanos, 1896 , Bebryce Philippi, 1841 , Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865 , and Psammogorgia Verrill, 1868 (see Table 1 ). However; a thorough revision of these genera has to be made in order to identify the actual species with some certainty.

(*) Author who transferred the original species to the genus Heterogorgia ; (?) Uncertain genus.

Tables

TABLE 1. Proposed genera for species misplaced in the genus Heterogorgia Verrill, 1868.

Species	Original author	Original genus	Author *	Proposed genus
H. clausa	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. flabellum	(Pallas, 1766)	Antipathes Pallas, 1766	Nutting 1910	Psammogorgia Verrill, 1868
H. gracilis	(Verrill, 1868)	Psammogorgia Verrill, 1868	Harden 1979	Psammogorgia Verrill, 1868
H. grandicalyx	Kükenthal, 1924	Heterogorgia		Brebyce Philippi, 1841
H. humilis	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. magna	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. muricelloides	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. operculata	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. polyklados	(Germanos, 1896)	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896	Kükenthal 1924	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896
H. ramosa	(Thomson & Hen- derson, 1905)	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896	Nutting 1910	Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. reticulata	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. stellata	Nutting, 1910	Heterogorgia		Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865
H. stellifera	(Thomson & Crane, 1909)	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896	Kükenthal 1924	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896
H. theophilasi	(Germanos, 1896)	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896	Kükenthal 1924	Astromuricea Germanos, 1896
H. verrilli	Thomson & Hen- derson, 1905			? Echinogorgia Kölliker, 1865