Black Corals (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from the Southwestern Atlantic
Author
Lima, Manuela M.
Author
Cordeiro, Ralf T. S.
Author
Perez, Carlos D.
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-11-05
4692
1
1
67
journal article
24975
10.11646/zootaxa.4692.1.1
ead7ec31-b9d4-49f3-a006-a67fff6ad623
1175-5326
3528942
F054DC68-6A7E-4C80-9094-8ECCA4502CD6
Genus
Bathypathes
Brook, 1889
Type-species.
Bathypathes patula
Brook, 1889
(by original designation)
Diagnosis.
“Corallum monopodial and pinnulate; attached to hard substrates by an adhesive basal plate. Pinnules simple, bilateral and either subopposite or alternating. Spines usually simple, triangular, compressed; rarely with knob-like bifurcations at the apex. Polyps
3–9 mm
in transverse diameter” (
Opresko, 2002
).
Remarks.
The genus
Bathypathes
Brook, 1889
currently contains eight species of monopodial corals with simple pinnules arranged bilaterally in two rows [
B. patula
Brook, 1889
;
B. bifida
Thomson, 1905
;
B. conferta
(
Brook, 1889
)
;
B. platycaulus
Totton, 1923
;
B. galatheae
Pasternak, 1977
;
B. erotema
Schultze, 1903
;
B. bayeri
Opresko, 2001
; and
B. robusta
(Gravier, 1918)
]. (Note: the species previously known as
B
.
alternata
Broook
, was recently transferred to the genus
Alternatipathes
—see
Molodtsova and Opresko, 2017
) The genus can be distinguished from
Schizopathes
mainly due to the presence of the basal disk and longer pinnules in the medial portion of the corallum.
Distribution.
Cosmopolitan (
Molodtsova, 2014
).