Zoanthids (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) from shallow waters of the southern Chilean fjord region, with descriptions of a new genus and two new species

Frederic Sinniger*, Verena Häussermann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

The taxonomy of the order Zoantharia (=Zoanthidea=Zoanthiniaria) is greatly hampered by the paucity of diagnostic morphological features. To facilitate discrimination between similar zoanthids, a combination of morphological and molecular analyses is applied here. The three most abundant zoanthid species in shallow waters of the southern Chilean fjord region are described. Comparison with other zoanthids using molecular markers reveals that two of them are new to science; these are described as Mesozoanthus fossii gen. n., sp. n. and Epizoanthus fiordicus sp. n. Their representatives grow on rocky substratum and do not live in symbiosis with demosponges. In the less abundant M. fossii, animals are greyish in colour and resemble members of Parazoanthus in growth form. Individual polyps can be up to 35 mm long. The more abundant E. fiordicus are also greyish; the polyps arise from thin stolons and reach only 12 mm in length. The third species studied is Parazoanthus elongatus McMurrich, 1904. For these three Chilean zoanthid species, in-situ photographs are presented as well as information on distribution, habitat and associated species. Establishment of the Mesozoanthus gen. n. is of particular importance to taxonomy in the chaotic suborder Macrocnemina.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)23-36
Number of pages14
JournalOrganisms Diversity and Evolution
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We wish to thank Prof. Louisette Zaninetti for her constant support of our study, and Dr. James Davis Reimer for his precious advice on the manuscript and on E. scotinus. V.H. is particularly grateful to Günter Försterra (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and Huinay Scientific Field Station) for his great help with diving, sampling, preservation, in situ/in vivo observations during the field trips, and for discovering the new genus and species Mesozoanthus fossii. We thank Tilla Roy (Australia), Susann Stolze (Canada) and Cesar Pacherras (Universidad Nacional Agraria, La Molina, Peru) for measuring and photographing the cnidae, Gerard Foley for checking the mesenterial arrangements, and Dr. Fritz Häussermann for his help with the illustrations. We thank the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS) for financial support. The five sampling trips to the Central and Northern Patagonian Zones were partially financed by CONAF, the PADI Foundation, the Huinay Foundation, the Tempano Project, NAVIMAG, and by Naviera Austral. Many thanks to all of them!

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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