Litophyton chabrolii (Andouin, 1828)

van Ofwegen, Leen P., 2016, The genus Litophyton Forskal, 1775 (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nephtheidae) in the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean, ZooKeys 567, pp. 1-128 : 8-9

Taxon classification Animalia Alcyonacea Nephtheidae

Litophyton chabrolii (Andouin, 1828) Figures 2B, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Nephthea chabrolii Andouin, 1828:49 (explanation for Savigny's, "Description de l’Egypte...", 1817, pl. 2 fig. 5;? Tixier-Durivault 1966: 273, figs 256-259 (Nosy Bé, Madagascar); Imahara 1996: 25 (listed).

Neptaea Savignyi ; Blainville 1830: 487 (listed); 1834: 523, pl. 88 fig. 6.

Litophyton chabrolii Not Nephthya Savignii; Ehrenberg 1834: 84; Dana 1846: 610 (= Litophyton savignyi ).

Nephthya chabrolii ; Milne Edwards 1857: 128, pl. B1 figs 2 a– 2b (Red Sea); Kölliker 1864: 133 (listed); Klunzinger 1877: 33, pl. 2 fig. 5 (Red Sea); May 1899: 158; Kükenthal 1903: 157 (revision Nephthea );? Thomson and Russell 1910: 183 (Salomon Reef, East Africa); Shann 1912: 511, pl. 61 figs 2-5, pl. 62 fig. 6 (reproduction of Savigny's, Nephthee plate.

Litophyton chabrolii Not Spongodes (Nephthya) chabrolii ; Holm 1894: 25, pl. 2 figs 1-3 (Java Sea, Indonesia).

Litophyton chabrolii Not Spongodes (Nephthya) Chabrolii var. ternatana Kükenthal, 1895: 428 (Ternate, Indonesia).

Litophyton chabrolii Not Spongodes (Nephthya) Chabrolii var. molukkana Kükenthal, 1895: 428 (Ternate, Indonesia).

Litophyton chabrolii Not Nephthya chabrolii var. ternatana ; Kükenthal 1896: 90.

Litophyton chabrolii Not Nephthya chabrolii var. moluccana ; Kükenthal 1896: 91.

Litophyton chabrolii Not Nephthya chabrolii ; Hickson and Hiles 1900: 500 (New Guinea); Thomson and Dean 1931: 83 (Malay Archipelago).

Litophyton chabrolii Not Nephthea chabrolii ; Roxas 1933: 412 (Palawan, Philippines); Utinomi 1954b: 59, fig. 2 (Kii coast, Japan); Utinomi 1956: 233 (Palau); Verseveldt 1966: 14, figs 6-7, pl. 4 fig. 1 (Java, Indonesia); Tixier-Durivault 1970a: 225 (Vietnam); 1970b: 298 (New Caledonia); Utinomi 1971: 94, pl. 16 fig. 1 (Darwin, Australia); Verseveldt 1972: 457 (Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Isl.; listed only, re-examined); 1977a: 3 (Carolines; listed only, re-examined); 1977c: 175 (Ellison Reef, Australia; listed only); Handayani et al. 1997 (Indonesia); Rao et al. 2000 (Gulf of Mannar, India); Lam and Morton 2008: 753, fig. E (Hong Kong = Chromonephthea sp.).

Material examined.

ZMTAU Co 26244, neotype, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba Wadi Magrash km 207, 20 July 1974, coll. Y. Benayahu (second specimen in the bottle is Litophyton simulatum ); RMNH Coel. 8956, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Fara 'un Isl., 7 January 1968, coll. Hebrew Univ.- Smiths. Red Sea project 65/SLR 1204 (identified as Nephthea albida ); RMNH Coel. 12364, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Sharm el Sheikh, depth 10 m, 6 September 1976, coll. Y. Benayahu (identified as Nephthea striata by Verseveldt); ZMTAU Co 26209, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Shurat el Manqata, 9 November 1981, coll. Y. Benayahu; ZMTAU Co 26228, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Muqeibla, 4 June 1976, coll. Y. Benayahu; ZMTAU Co 26229, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Muqeibla, depth 4 m, 12 February 1976, coll. Y. Benayahu; ZMTAU Co 26251, Red Sea, South tip Sinai Ras Muhammed, depth 15 m, 21 April 1979, coll. Y. Benayahu.

Removed from the species.

RMNH Coel. 2212, voyage Boie & Macklot, nr. 83 (?Java); RMNH Coel. 2216, voyage Boie and Macklot, nr. 101 (?Java); RMNH Coel. 2977, Indonesia, Kei Islands, Tual anchorage, 12-16 December 1899, 22 m depth, Lithothamnion, sand and coral, reef exploration, dredge, Siboga sta. 258 (= Chromonephthea intermedia (Thomson and Dean, 1931)); RMNH Coel. 2978, Indonesia, Galewo Strait, off Salawatti Island; 1°42.5'S, 130°47.5'E, dredge, depth 32 m, sand and shells, 20 August 1899, Siboga sta 164 (= Chromonephthea intermedia (Thomson and Dean, 1931)); RMNH Coel. 8921, Red Sea, Gulf of Suez, Abu Zanima, 12 June 1968, coll. Hebrew Univ.-Smiths. Red Sea project (= Litophyton simulatum ); RMNH Coel. 8945, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Marsa abu Zabad, 15 September 1967, coll. Hebrew Univ.-Smiths. Red Sea project (= Litophyton simulatum ); RMNH Coel. 8091, Marshall islands, Eniwetok Atoll, in lagoon west of Eniwetok island, 5 m depth, 16 July 1969, coll. A.G. Humes; RMNH Coel. 11767, Ponape, shallow reef, about halfway Kolonia and Nanmatol, depth 1.5 m, coll. B. Jay Burreson; RMNH Coel. 11944, Indonesia, NW Ceram, Marsegoe Island, 2°59'30"S 128°03'30"E, depth 2 m, 15 May 1975, coll. A.G. Humes; RMNH Coel. 10843, Leti islands, Serwaru, coll. B. Tursch; RMNH Coel. 10844, Leti islands, Serwaru, coll. B. Tursch; RMNH Coel. 11636, Ellison Reef, seaward slope, 17°44'S, 146°24'E, depth 5 m, 8 January 1975, coll. R.N. Garrett; RMNH Coel. 13161, Australia, GBR, SE outer slope of John Brewer Reef, depth 15 m, 2-6 November 1976, coll. Terence Done; RMNH Coel. 14119, Australia, GBR, Lizard Island, between Bird and South island, depth 6-9 m, 14 February 1977, coll. H.K. Larson; RMNH Coel. 24017, Indonesia, W Sumatra, off shore of Sinyaru island, snorkelling, April 1994, coll. Ru Angelie Edrada; ZMB 3589 [label: Spongodes chabrolii var. ternatana ]; ZMB 3590 [label: Spongodes chabrolii var. moluccana ]; ZMB 6764 [label: Nephthya chabrolii var. moluccana ]; ZMB 6765 [label: Nephthya chabrolii var. ternatana ].

Diagnosis.

Litophyton with polyps with spindles. Internal spindles of the base of the stalk up to about 1.0 mm long, mostly unbranched and with very regular tuberculation.

Description.

The neotype is 4 cm high and 6.5 cm wide; the colony stalk is 1 cm high (Figure 20).

The polyps are up to about 0.5 mm wide and high (Figure 21). Supporting bundle not projecting, composed of spindles with simple or complex tubercles (Figure 22D). Length of these spindles is up to 1.2 mm. Polyp body sclerites irregularly arranged, the smallest are present adaxially (Figure 22B); abaxially they merge into the smaller spindles of the supporting bundle (Figure 22C). The tentacle sclerites resemble the smallest adaxial polyp sclerites (Figure 22A).

Surface layer top of stalk. Spindles, radiates, and derivatives of these, spindles, and unilaterally spinose spindles; sclerites with simple or complex tubercles (Figure 23). The spindles are up to 0.6 mm long.

Surface layer base of stalk. Sclerites similar to those of the top of the stalk but the unilaterally spinose sclerites with slightly longer spines (Figure 24).

Interior base of stalk. Spindles, up to 1.2 mm long, with simple, regular, sparse tubercles (Figure 25). Several spindles have one or more side branches, a few have one or two blunt ends. The smaller spindles are more often branched than the larger ones.

Colour. The colony is white.

Distribution.

Gulf of Aqaba.

Remarks.

The species resembles Litophyton lanternarium and Litophyton simulatum but differs in having mostly unbranched internal stalk spindles with very regular tuberculation.

It is noteworthy that Lam and Morton (2008) probably misidentified a specimen of Chromonephthea as they mentioned coloured specimens with coloured sclerites, characters of that genus and not of Lithophyton .

RMNH 2212, 2216 is the material from Indonesia described by Verseveldt (1966) as Nephthea chabrolii . It has similar polyp armature as the neotype here described. However, the internal stalk sclerites are branched, not present in any Red Sea specimens identifiable as Litophyton chabrolii . Likewise a number of RMNH specimens identified as Nephthea chabrolii from the Indo-Pacific and a few ZMB specimens from Indonesia (see removed from the species) all proved to be other species and therefore I have to conclude Nephthea chabrolii as here described has only been found in the Red Sea so far.