Re-description of type material of Xenia Lamarck, 1816 (Octocorallia: Xeniidae)
Author
Halász, Anna
Author
Mcfadden, Catherine S.
Author
Toonen, Robert
Author
Benayahu, Yehuda
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-08-08
4652
2
201
239
journal article
26061
10.11646/zootaxa.4652.2.1
72dd17e4-7c47-41d2-b49b-971d6b63ba7f
1175-5326
3363653
04D7DC4C-5EBC-4C5A-9E68-7795E8E60ECA
Genus
Xenia
Lamarck, 1816
Type
species:
Xenia umbellata
Lamarck, 1816
Diagnosis.
Colonies are small and soft with cylindrical stalk, undivided or branched, terminating in one or more domed polyp-bearing regions. Polyps are not retractile and are always monomorphic. Sclerites are ellipsoid platelets, usually abundant in all parts of the colony. They are mostly up to
0.025 mm
in maximal diameter, and are composed of calcite rods, often dendritic or sinuous, mostly radially arranged, at least at the periphery of the sclerites. Tips of rods can be observed on the surface of the platelet, commonly providing it with a granular appearance; in a few cases, distal parts of rods are arranged parallel to the sclerite surface. The rods are mostly uniform in width (
0.1–0.2 µm
), but in some species their distal ends are wider. The sclerites often tend to fracture during dehydration for SEM purposes, thus also enabling examination of their inner parts and the morphology and arrangement of rods.