Laeta, Lau, Yee Wah & Reimer, James D., 2019

Lau, Yee Wah & Reimer, James D., 2019, A first phylogenetic study on stoloniferous octocorals off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, with the description of two new genera and five new species, ZooKeys 872, pp. 127-158 : 127

Genus Laeta gen. nov.

Type species.

Laeta waheedae sp. nov., by original designation and monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Colony with polyps connected through stolons, which are ribbon-like. Oral disk with eight furrows, running from intertentacular margin to the mouth of the polyp, dividing the membrane into eight shallow lobes. Distal two-thirds of tentacles extend from fused margins of the oral membrane. Sclerites of anthocodiae are rods. Sclerites of calyx are table-radiates and three types of rods; (1) branched rods with high tuberculate processes, (2) club-like rods and (3) table-radiate-like rods. Sclerites of stolon are fused table-radiates, which form a sheet. Sclerites colourless. Zooxanthellate.

Remarks.

The main morphological difference between the type species, Laeta waheedae gen. nov. et sp. nov., and species of the genera Arula , Hana , and Bunga gen. nov. is found in the presence of all three types of rods in its calyces. The club-like rod with tubercles at one distal end of the rod is also seen in Hana hanataba Lau et al., 2018, however this type of sclerite was only found in the anthocodiae in Laeta waheedae and not in the calyx as in Hana . Similar to Bunga , Laeta does not have 6-radiates in the calyx. Similar to Hana and Bunga , Laeta has fused table-radiates in the stolon. Outer margins of the oral membrane are much less pronounced than in Arula and Hana , and are more similar to margins of the oral disk in Bunga .

Etymology.

From Latin laeta, meaning bright, charming, cheerful. Gender: feminine.