Aldersladum sodwanum (Benayahu, 1993) Benayahu, 1993

Benayahu, Yehuda & McFadden, Catherine S., 2011, A new genus of soft coral of the family Alcyoniidae (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) with re-description of a new combination and description of a new species, ZooKeys 84, pp. 1-11 : 2-4

Aldersladum sodwanum (Benayahu, 1993) comb. n. Figs 126a

Efflatounaria sodwanae Benayahu 1993: 11-14.

Holotype and 2 microscopic slides:

ZMTAU Co 27902, South Africa, Sodwana Bay, Nine-mile Reef, 23 July 1992, 16 m 1992, leg. Y. Benayahu. Paratypes: ZMTAU Co 27933 and 27935 details as above; ZMTAU Co 27934, South Africa, Sodwana Bay, Nine-mile Reef, 5 May 1992, 10 m, leg. M.H. Schleyer. Other material: ZMTAU Co 30465, Kenya, Mombassa, off Likoni (Wall reef), 04°06'S, 39°41'E, 20-22 m, 27 January 2000; ZMTAU Co 31165, Kenya, Mombassa, off Likoni, Shelly Beach, 04°07'S, 39°40'E, 20-26 m, 20 February, 2001; ZMTAU Co 31520, Kenya, Mombassa, off Likoni, Shelly Beach (Turning Buoy), 04°05'S, 39°41'E, 15-28 m, 27 February 2002; ZMTAU Co 31598, Kenya, Wasini Is., Shimoni Channel, 04°00'S, 39°22'E 8 m, 7 March 2002; ZMTAU Co 32579, Kenya, Kilifi (Mooring), 03°58S, 39°46'E. All other material listed above was collected by Y. Benayahu and S. Perkol-Finkel. ZMTAU Co 31092, Aoti, north-east coast of Taiwan, 7 July 1998, Coll. M.-S. Jeng; RMNH Coel. 39925, Gulf of Oman, Iran, Chabahar, 25°16'29.251"N, 60°40'32.189"E, 3 m depth, exposed rocky substrate, leg. K. Samimi-Namin, 27 January 2009. Each ZMTAU Co and RMNH Coel number represents one colony.

Diagnosis and description.

For the sake of convenience the revised description also contains the relevant information that appeared in the original description of Efflatounaria sodwanae . The holotype has a firm, low, crust-like base, 3-5 mm high, attached to a calcareous fragment. The maximum cross-section of the colony is 6 × 3 cm, and its total height (base and polypary) is up to 8 mm (Fig. 1a). The polypary consists of numerous knob-like lobes, some of which bud off into one to three smaller side lobules. Obscure material, composed of slime and debris, is found between adjacent lobes. The polyps are confined only to the lobes and are absent from their basal part. The anthocodial wall of some polyps is partially contracted and, very rarely, the tentacles are withdrawn into the mouth.

The sclerites are platelets of porous texture, narrower across the lateral middle-line, 0.032-0.048 mm long (Fig. 2). They are found in the polyps and in all parts of the colony. A longitudinal median slit on the flat surface of the sclerite occupies about half of its length. The slit can be narrower in its middle and occasionally widens at its ends, forming aperture-like structures (Fig. 2a). Some of the sclerites have a poorly developed slit (Fig. 2b) while in others this is wider (Fig. 2c), but both possess similar common features. The architectural features of the sclerites confer upon them a figure-eight shape. Under a light microscope the slit and apertures are observed on the surface of the sclerite as bright median areas. Although some sclerites appear as cigar-shaped, these are actually platelets viewed from their narrow lateral surface, as also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (Fig. 2d). The alcohol preserved colony is cream-beige.The preserved paratypes differ in size (e.g., Fig. 1b).

When alive the polyps are light brown and the base of the colony is brighter (Fig. 6a). The colonies are quite small, commonly no larger than 30-40 mm in diameter.