Two new gorgonian species (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) from Ecuador (Eastern Pacific)

Abstract

Two new gorgonian species of the gorgoniid genera Eugorgia and Leptogorgia are described from Los Ahorcados (Ecuador, Eastern Pacific). The distinctive features of Eugorgia ahorcadensis sp. nov. are the brownish-orange colour of the colony, the polyp-mounds (slightly raised with red rings) and the coenenchymal sclerites (red, yellow, some bicoloured, abundant spindles and disc-spindles with the presence of capstans, but no complete double discs or crosses). The new species is compared with its closest congeners, the Eastern Pacific species E. ampla and E. bradleyi. The distinctive features of Leptogorgia mariarosacea sp. nov. are: the red colony colour, the prominent polyp-mounds and the coenenchymal sclerites (red, no bicoloured sclerites, spindles abundant, capstans present, but no crosses). The new species is compared with its closest congeners, the Eastern Pacific species L. aequatorialis and L. diffusa.

Keywords:

• Ecuador
• Gorgoniidae
• biodiversity
• new species
• Eastern Pacific

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

This article is part of the final work of the first author (MMSH), required for the conferring of a MSc degree in Biodiversity in Tropical Areas and their Conservation at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP, Spain), a Master's Programme funded by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Spain) and carried out at the Universidad Central del Ecuador. Our gratitude goes to the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales, The Machalilla National Park and Ministerio del Ambiente, Distrito de Manabí. We would like to express our appreciation to Michel Guerrero and all his team (Exploramar Diving) for his interest and collaboration since we began our research. Sincere appreciation to Marisol Paolicelli Ridolfi for help in the translation of this work. We are also indebted to Jesus Muñoz for unlimited help. Special thanks to Enrique Lujan, Alicia Maraver, Valeria Garcia, Micaela Peña, Damian Ramirez and Miguel Barral for their collaboration during the sampling programme, for their unconditional support, friendship and hard work. We thank two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions and the Editors of MBR who greatly improved this manuscript in its final stages. We also want to thank Mr Tony Krupa 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