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| Alaskagorgia splendicitrina Horvath & Stone, 2018 |
Abstract
An unusual new species of plexaurid octocoral, Alaskagorgia splendicitrina, is described from a specimen collected in the far west Aleutian Island Archipelago, Alaska, USA. Unusual features that separate it from its only congener include: the vibrant yellow color of the live colony and an arborescent growth form with numerous coiling and twisting branches, the pale yellow color of the sclerites and the lack of small and densely warted double-headed sclerites. The new species is represented by only a single specimen despite extensive sampling in the region during the past several decades; the speculation is that it radiated from the much less explored region to the west.
Keywords: Coelenterata, Taxonomy, new species, cold-water coral, subarctic, Aleutian Islands
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| Holotype of Alaskagorgia splendicitrina n. sp. Whole, live colony upon collection. |
Taxonomy
Class OctocoralliaSuborder Holaxonia
Family Plexauridae Gray, 1859
Genus Alaskagorgia Sánchez and Cairns, 2004
Alaskagorgia splendicitrina sp. nov.
Etymology. The species designation is derived from the Latin word for “bright” or “vibrant” (=splendius) and the Latin for “lemon-yellow” (=citrina).
Common name. Lemon-yellow Squat Gorgonian.
Type locality. Stalemate Bank, western Aleutian Islands, .... 184 m.
Elizabeth A. Horvath and Robert P. Stone. 2018. Another Unusual New Gorgonian (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Zootaxa. 4524(1); 112–120. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4524.1.8
