A revision of the octocoral genus Ovabunda Alderslade, 2001 (Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Xeniidae) Author Halasz, Anna Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Author McFadden, Catherine S. Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, 1250 N. Dartmouth Ave., Claremont, CA 91711, USA Author Aharonovich, Dafna Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Author Toonen, Robert Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 46 - 007 Lilipuna Road, Kane'ohe, HI 96744, USA Author Benayahu, Yehuda Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel text ZooKeys 2014 2014-01-23 373 1 41 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.373.6511 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.373.6511 1313-2970-373-1 A246FFD7FFADFF9EFFAAAF06FFDCCB03 577685 Ovabunda verseveldti (Benayahu, 1990) Fig. 20 Xenia verseveldti Benayahu, 1990: 115-116, fig. 2, table 1; Reinicke 1997 : 29-30, plate 16. Ovabunda verseveldti ; Alderslade 2001 : 49. Material. Holotype: ZMTAU Co 26048 and four paratypes: ZMTAU Co 31625 northern Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Dahab ( 28°30'34.21"N , 34°31'18.26"E ), 1 m, 9 November 1979, coll. Y. Benayahu. Description. The holotype is 18 mm high; its stalk is 9 mm long, 5 mm wide at its base and 13 mm wide at its uppermost part. Polyp's body is 1-4 mm long, and the tentacles 6 mm long, bearing 1.8 mm long and 0.2 mm wide pinnules separated from each other by a small gap, less than one pinnule width. A single row of 14-18 pinnules is aligned on each side of the tentacles. There are numerous sclerites in all parts of the colony, densely packed in the pinnules and scarce in the mid-line of the tentacles' oral side. The sclerites are Ovabunda -type, varying in shape from regular spheroids ( Fig. 20b ) to egg-shaped ( Fig. 20a ) and more rectangular forms ( Fig. 20c ), measuring 0.014-0.033 x 0.022-0.046 mm in diameter (n = 45). Rarely, two sclerites are fused, reaching a diameter of up to 0.051 mm ( Fig. 20d ). Figure 20. Scanning electron micrographs of polyp sclerites of Ovabunda verseveldti (Benayahu, 1990) holotype (ZMTAU Co 26048). a Egg-shaped sclerite b Regular sclerite c Rectangular sclerites d Fused sclerites e Irregular sclerite. Scale bar 10 µm . The four paratypes (ZMTAU Co 31625) are smaller than the holotype, 12-17 mm high; the stalk is 10-15 mm long, 4-6 mm wide at the stalk base and 6-8 mm wide at the upper part. Polyp's body is up to 5 mm long, and tentacles up to 3 mm long, featuring one row of 12-17 pinnules on each side. The pinnules are 1.2 mm long and 0.2 mm wide at their base, densely set in each row, almost touching each other. The sclerites are Ovabunda -type, measuring 0.018-0.030 x 0.022-0.049 mm in diameter (n = 38). Occasionally, two sclerites are fused, reaching a maximum size of 0.049 mm. The original description did not mention polyp pulsation. The ethanol-preserved colonies are light brown. Conclusions. The features of the holotype and paratypes agree with the original description of the species. The species was assigned by Alderslade (2001) to Ovabunda (see Introduction) and this is confirmed in the current study. Similar species. Ovabunda verseveldti is most similar to Ovabunda benayahui . Although they both have one row of pinnules the numbers of pinnules in the outermost row ranges from 12-18 in Ovabunda verseveldti compared to 6-7 in Ovabunda benayahui . Distribution. Red Sea: Gulf of Aqaba, southern tip of Sinai Peninsula.