Cladiella brachyclados ( Ehrenberg, 1834 )

Lazar, Einav, Mcfadden, Catherine S., Huchon, Dorothée & Benayahu, Yehuda, 2025, Redescription of type material of the genus Cladiella Gray, 1869 (Octocorallia, Malacalcyonacea, Cladiellidae) from the Red Sea, Zootaxa 5674 (1), pp. 1-84 : 19

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5674.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FF8F0124-E9C0-45E0-9989-C0B74BF11036
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039787D2-FC4A-FFC3-EDA9-FF198D8BE228
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Cladiella brachyclados ( Ehrenberg, 1834 )
status

Treatment

Cladiella brachyclados ( Ehrenberg, 1834) View in CoL

( Figs. 2C View FIGURE 2 , 7 View FIGURE 7 & 8 View FIGURE 8 )

Lobularia brachyclados Ehrenberg, 1834: 58 View in CoL .

Alcyonium brachycladum ; Dana, 1846, p. 617, plate 58, Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 .

Cladiella brachycladia ; Gray, 1869: 125.

Lobularia brachyclados View in CoL ; Targioni-Tozzetti 1872: 454.

Alcyonium brachyclados View in CoL ; Klunziger 1877: 25, pl. 1, Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 (re-description).

Microspicularia brachyclados Macfadyen, 1936: 29 .

? Alcyonium brachyclados View in CoL ; Cohn 1908: 234 ( Madagascar); Lüttschwager 1914: 22 ( Madagascar); Lüttschwager 1922: 530 ( Philippines); Dean 1929: 708 (Port Taufiq, Gulf of Suez, Red Sea).

? Lobularia brachyclados View in CoL ; Tixier-Durivault 1943a: 439–440 (Nah Trang, Vietnam); 1948: 60-65, Figs. 49–54 View FIGURE 49 View FIGURE 50 View FIGURE 51 View FIGURE 52 View FIGURE 53 View FIGURE 54 .

? Cladiella brachyclados View in CoL ; Tixier-Durivault 1966: 36-37, Fig. 17 View FIGURE 17 (Tongatapu, Tonga); Tixier-Durivault 1969: 134–135 (Gambier Island); Tixier-Durivault 1972: 58 ( Madagascar, listed only); Iha & Yoshino 1997: 93 (Okinawa, Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, listed only); Benayahu et al. 2003: 55 ( Mozambique, listed only).

Material examined. Syntype. ZMB Cni 303, Red Sea, 1820, coll. F. W. Hemprich & C. G. Ehrenberg.

Description. The syntype is an encrusting colony with a maximum cross-section of 82 x 63 mm ( Fig. 2C View FIGURE 2 ). Its primary conical rounded lobes are rather spaced, some are divided into lobules with the partly expanded polyps visible on their surface.

The sclerome of the polyps comprises various platelets, including figure-eights and others with an irregular outline, 0.04–0.05 mm long ( Fig. 7A View FIGURE 7 ). Their surface has a tuberculate texture and some are cristate-like. The sclerites of the surface layer of the lobes comprise poorly developed dumbbells, 0.06–0.07 mm long, with rounded or low pointed conical tubercles, commonly lacking a median waist ( Fig. 7B View FIGURE 7 ). The dumbbells from the interior of the lobes are 0.08–0.10 mm long and their bare waist is 0.02–0.03 mm wide and 0.01–0.03 mm long ( Fig. 7C View FIGURE 7 ). These sclerites feature at either end mostly pointed conical tubercles, with some blunt-ended conical and some rounded tubercles. It should be noted that only a few tubercles are found at each end, leaving bare spaces in between. The sclerites of the surface layer of the base are poorly developed dumbbells, 0.06-0.09 mm long, featuring sparse blunt-ended conical or pointed tubercles ( Fig. 8A View FIGURE 8 ). The dumbbells from the interior of the base are 0.09–0.11 mm long, with a bare waist 0.02–0.05 mm wide and 0.02–0.03 mm long ( Fig. 8B View FIGURE 8 ). The tubercles of these dumbbells are rather sparse, mostly low blunt-ended conical or pointed conical.

Color. The ethanol preserved syntype ZMB Cni 303 is brown .

Remarks. The original description of C. brachyclados presents drawings of the colony and of a few sclerites ( Ehrenberg 1834: pl. 1, Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ) approaching the current findings. Tixier-Durivault (1948: 60–65) did not re-describe the type, but instead a colony from Vietnam identified by her as L. brachyclados which was not examined in the current study. The present findings suggest that the irregular outline of the polyp platelets ( Fig. 7A View FIGURE 7 ) along with the low and sparse tubercles of the dumbbells from the interior of the colony lobes and base ( Fig. 7C View FIGURE 7 & 8B View FIGURE 8 ) are diagnostic for this species. In addition, the length of the dumbbell-waist up to 0.05 mm is the largest among all Red Sea congeners. The other records of C. brachyclados (see above) should be re-examined in order to validate their original taxonomic assignment.