Plexaurella regia Castro, 1989

Castro, C. B., Medeiros, M. S. & Loiola, L. L., 2010, Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from Brazilian reefs, Journal of Natural History 44 (13 - 14), pp. 763-827 : 796-797

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930903441160
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/554D1963-FFDE-FFDC-FE19-F2F10C8464B9
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Plexaurella regia Castro, 1989
status

Treatment

( Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 12D,D′ View Figure 12 , 15)

Plexaurella regia Castro, 1989: 37–43 , figs. 2,3; Hetzel and Castro 1994: 92 (photos only); Medeiros and Castro 1999: 12.

Diagnosis

Lateral branching colonies ( Figure 12D View Figure 12 ). Branches thick (18–24 mm near distal ends) ( Figure 12D′ View Figure 12 ). Coenenchymal mounds absent. Butterflies restricted to the outer layer of coenenchyme. Inner coenenchyme exclusively with tuberculated spindles, up to 0.75 mm long ( Figure 15 View Figure 15 ) (adapted from Castro 1989: 601, as a formal diagnosis is lacking).

Description

For a complete description see Castro (1989: 37–43, figs. 2,3).

Material

Brazil: Bahia (MNRJ 00434, 00440, 01176, 02748, 02751, 04580, 04581, 04582, 04583; USNM 73735, 73399; UFPb 279, 290).

Type depository

Museu Nacional , Rio de Janeiro ( MNRJ 00440 View Materials ) ( Castro 1989) .

Type locality

Abrolhos Reefs, Bahia State, Brazil ( Castro 1989) .

Geographic distribution

Known only from the vicinity of the Abrolhos Reefs, Brazil ( Figure 1 View Figure 1 ).

Remarks

The last decade has seen a surge of research on Brazilian reefs (see Castro and Pires 2001). However, P. regia is still only recorded from southern Bahia, especially from the Abrolhos Bank. It is a shallow-water, large and conspicuous species, easy to identify in the field. It seems to be restricted to offshore (> 5 km from the coast) reefs of southern Bahia, approximately from Porto Seguro to the Abrolhos Bank.

Family GORGONIIDAE Lamouroux, 1812