A new family of soft corals (Anthozoa,Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) from the aphotic tropical eastern Pacific waters revealed by integrative taxonomy |
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Authors: | Odalisca Breedy Leen P. van Ofwegen Sergio Vargas |
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Affiliation: | 1. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, and Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas , Universidad de Costa Rica , 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica;2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute , Panama;3. Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis , P.O. Box 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands;4. Department of Earth &5. Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology &6. Geobiology , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t München , Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333?Munich, Germany |
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Abstract: | The new family Aquaumbridae is described based on distinct morphological characters and supported by a molecular phylogenetic analysis. Aquaumbridae is similar to Nidaliidae, Nepththeidae and Alcyoniidae in having arborescent colonies and lacking axis structure or stolons, but differs from them in having very different sclerite composition and having conspicuous transparent jelly-like lobes. Phylogenetic analysis of two mitochondrial genes, ND2 and mtMutS, strongly supports its placement in a separated clade. Herein we describe Aquaumbra klapferi sp. nov., gen. nov. in the new family. The organisms were obtained from the seamounts, ridges and canyons out of the insular shelf of Isla del Coco, Costa Rica, down to 400 m depth. The new species represents the first discovery of a soft coral in an eastern Pacific oceanic island, and provides hints of the biodiversity of the largely unexplored deep waters of the tropical eastern Pacific. |
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Keywords: | Alcyonacea eastern Pacific Isla del Coco Octocorallia sea mounts soft coral |
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