Checklist of valid names and synonyms of stony corals (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) from the eastern Pacific

Abstract

The taxonomy and species richness of the stony corals of the eastern Pacific have been studied for more than a hundred years, but discrepancies in the nomenclature of some species were common, a situation which affected the quality of ecological and biogeographic analysis. During the last decade, the identity of most scleractinians of the region was well established but subsequently, the discovery of new colonizing and endemic species demanded a new revision of the taxonomic status of this fauna. The objective of this paper is to present an updated checklist of all accepted and synonym names of coral species of the eastern Pacific, from Alaska (USA) to Tierra del Fuego (Chile), considering as valid those which have appeared in recent reviews of this fauna (1993 to date). The status of each species was tracked in the literature as far as its original description or first report in the region, a strategy which also enabled recording and detailed assignment of the respective synonyms and their geographic distribution. There are 124 valid species names of stony corals in the eastern Pacific from 51 genera and 15 families; of them, 83 species have no synonyms, three are only tentatively identified and six are considered valid but in the process of formal description. This updated list comprises more taxa than any previous compilation. The increase in number is due to the recent discoveries of species in extreme latitudes or oceanic islands, and the description of new species. This study shows that the eastern Pacific coral fauna is relatively poor, but nevertheless there are many more species than originally thought.

Keywords:

• Checklist
• Scleractinia
• Corals
• Eastern Pacific
• Taxonomy
• Biogeography