A new species of Arachnanthus from the Red Sea (Cnidaria, Ceriantharia)

Sérgio N Stampar; Suraia O El Didi; Gustav Paulay; Michael L Berumen

doi:10.3897/zookeys.748.22914

A new species of Arachnanthus from the Red Sea (Cnidaria, Ceriantharia)

Zookeys. 2018 Apr 4:(748):1-10. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.748.22914. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Sérgio N Stampar¹, Suraia O El Didi¹, Gustav Paulay², Michael L Berumen³

Affiliations

¹ Faculdade de Ciências e Letras, UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista, Assis, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Evolução e Diversidade Aquática - LEDA, Av. Dom Antonio, 2100, Assis, SP, 19806-900, Brazil.
² Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611-7800, United States of America.
³ Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

A new species of the genus Arachnanthus (Cnidaria: Ceriantharia), Arachnanthus lilith Stampar & El Didi, sp. n., is described. This species is widely distributed in the Red Sea, and recorded from 2-30 m depths. Arachnanthus lilith Stampar & El Didi, sp. n. is the fifth species of the genus and the first recorded from the Red Sea. The number of labial tentacle pseudocycles, arrangement of mesenteries, and distribution of acontioids allow the differentiation of the new species from other species of the genus.

Keywords: Anthozoa; Indo-West Pacific; biodiversity; coral reefs; marine invertebrates; taxonomy.