Rediscovery of Cereopsis studeri Koch, 1891, a forgotten Mediterranean soft coral species, and its inclusion in the genus Nidalia Gray, 1835 (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nidaliidae)

Abstract

Cereopsis studeri was described by G. von Koch in 1891 with material from Naples. However, it was subsequently synonymized, erroneously identified, and overlooked in subsequent soft coral literature of the twentieth century. After the original description, this species was not recorded or correctly described for 120 years. The study of newly collected material from the North Western Mediterranean permits the re-description of this forgotten species and its assignation to the genus Nidalia in the family Nidaliidae. The main features of Nidalia studeri com. nov. are: colony torch-like, a capitulum light orange in colour, not laterally flattened, dome-shaped and not distinctly projecting beyond the stalk, introvert with sclerites transversally placed in two longitudinal rows per interseptal space, anthocodial crown with 28–38 sclerite rows, points separated from polyps distally, formed by 6–9 pairs of sclerites, and the presence of intermediate points (secondary points) between principal (interseptal) ones. Nidalia studeri is here compared with its closest congeners, especially with the Indonesian species N. simpsoni, species from the West Indian Region N. dissidens, N.occidentalis, N. deichmannae, and the recently described Nidalia aurantia from the Mid-Atlantic Ocean. This is the first time that the genus Nidalia and the family Nidaliidae have been reported with certainty for the Mediterranean Sea.

Keywords:

• Mediterranean
• Alcyonacea
• manned submersible
• Cereopsis studeri
• Nidalia
• soft coral

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

The authors thank to the scientists and crew on board the BIO García del Cid during the ‘INDEMARES-CSIC III, Menorca I’ cruise, and the Jago team (J. Schauer and K. Hissmann) from IFM-GEOMAR (Kiel, Germany), without whose help it would not have been possible to collect the specimens for this work. Our thanks are also addressed to Dr J. Köhler (Hessisches Landesmuseum), who kindly informed us about the possible fates of von Koch's specimens. This research was funded by LIFE+ INDEMARES project. We also thank all referees and editorial editors of MBR for their detailed comments and their important criticisms that have substantially improved earlier versions of this manuscript. Mr Tony Krupa is thanked for reviewing the English version.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark