Smittipora cordiformis Harmer, 1926

(Figs 2C, 4 D–F; Table 3)

Smittipora cordiformis Harmer, 1926 (part): p. 260, pl. 16, figs 14–18. Hayward & Ryland, 1995: p. 543, fig. 6c. Tilbrook et al., 2001: p. 52, fig. 6g. Tilbrook, 2006: p. 74, pl. 12a. Dick & Grischenko, 2017: p. 167, figs a, b.

Material examined. TAB 10 from station JP 01-1.

Description Colony unilaminar, encrusting, sheet-like (Fig. 4D), operculum dark brown. Autozooids distinct, hexagonal to irregularly polygonal, longer than wide. Cryptocyst extensive, concave, uniformly granulated. Opesia longer than wide, D-shaped (Fig. 4F). Avicularia interzooidal (Fig. 4E), shorter and narrower than autozooids, opesia elongate, somewhat oblong, with granular cryptocyst, distal margin smooth and proximal border denticulate.

Remarks. The distinctive characters of Smittipora cordiformis are also seen in a closely similar Miocene fossil from Borneo, Indonesia (Di Martino & Taylor 2014). The species differs from Smittipora acutirostris Canu & Bassler, 1928 (Brazil and Caribbean) in the acute distal tips of avicularia.

Distribution. Smittipora cordiformis was originally collected by the Siboga Expedition from Flores Island and Sulawesi (Harmer 1916). It is broadly distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Great Barrier Reef (Hayward & Ryland 1995), Vanuatu (Tilbrook et al. 2001), Solomon Islands (Tilbrook 2006) and Okinawa (Dick & Grischenko 2017).