Stichopathes Brook, 1889

Lima, Manuela M., Cordeiro, Ralf T. S. & Perez, Carlos D., 2019, Black Corals (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from the Southwestern Atlantic, Zootaxa 4692 (1), pp. 1-67 : 9

Genus Stichopathes Brook, 1889

Type-species. Stichopathes pourtalesi Brook, 1889 (by original designation based on indirect evidence, see Bo & Opresko, 2015).

Diagnosis. “ Monopodial unbranched corallum (rarely secondarily branched following regeneration of the broken stem), stem straight, wavy, curved, or partially (upper part of stem) or entirely spiral. Polyps confined to a regular, single row on one side of axis. Spines triangular to conical, smooth or papillose, and simple, bifurcated, or with multiple knobs or lobes at apex” ( Bo & Opresko, 2015).

Remarks. The genus Stichopathes comprises 34 described species, most of which were based on incomplete descriptions, and lacking collection information (e.g., S. bournei Cooper, 1909 , with no locality of collection).

Distribution. Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific ( Molodtsova, 2014).