Cladiella lineata (Tixier-Durivault, 1944)

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 : 52-53

Cladiella lineata (Tixier-Durivault, 1944)

( Figs. 28E , 37 & 38)

Lobularia lineata Tixier-Durivault, 1944a: 189–190 ; Tixier-Durivault 1948: 139–143, Figs. 131–136.

Material examined. Holotype. MNHN-IK-2000-387, Red Sea.

Description. The holotype is a fragment of an encrusting colony with a cross-section of 84 x 33 mm featuring densely placed laterally flattened short lobes and lobules ( Fig. 28E ). All polyps are retracted and their location on the lobes are barely visible visible.

The sclerome of the polyps comprises platelets and some rods, 0.04–0.07 mm long, mostly featuring a waist-like constriction (Fig. 37A). Their surface has a tuberculate texture associated with a cristate-like one. On the surface of the lobes there are poorly developed dumbbells, 0.04–0.07 mm long, with rounded tubercles and blunt-ended conical ones (Fig. 37B). The dumbbells from the interior of the lobes are 0.07–0.08 mm long and ornamented with only a few pointed conical or blunt-ended conical tubercles, separated by a bare waist which is 0.02–0.03 mm wide and 0.01–0.02 mm long (Fig. 37C). There are no sclerites on the surface layer of the colony base. In the interior of the colony base, there are dumbbells with remarkably short pointed conical tubercles that are well spaced on each end of the sclerite thus leaving a distinct bare surface between them ( Fig. 38 ). These dumbbells are 0.08–0.10 mm long and their bare waist is 0.03–0.04 mm wide and 0.01–0.03 mm long.

Color. The dry holotype MNHN-IK-2000-387 is brown.

Remarks. The initial species assignment of L. lineata by Tixier-Durivault 1944a: 189-190) did not depict the morphological characters of the syntype colony. Subsequently, they were presented in the revision of the genus ( Tixier-Durivault 1948: 139–143, Figs. 131–136).

In general, the current examination of both the colony morphology and its sclerites corresponds to its amended description by Tixier-Durivault (1948). However, in that publication no distinction is made between the sclerites of the lobe surface and the polyp (see Fig. 135). Remarkably , there are no sclerites in the surface layer of the colony base. The dumbbells from the interior of the colony base are characterized by short and spaced conical tubercles at each end, suggested to be a diagnostic character of this species. No details on either the exact locality in the Red Sea where the type colony was collected or its date of collection are given .

Distribution. Red Sea.

Figure 37. Cladiella lineata (Tixier-Durivault, 1944) , holotype MNHN-IK-2000-387. Scanning electron micrographs of sclerites of the colony top. A. Polyp sclerites. B. Poorly developed dumbbells of the surface layer of the lobes. C. Dumbbells from the interior of the lobes.

Figures

FIGURE 28. Images of Cladiella type colonies. A. Cladiella irregularis (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), syntype MNHN-IK-2000- 384. B. Cladiella kükenthali (Tixier-Durivault, 1942), holotype, MNHN-IK-2000-385. C. Cladiella laciniosa (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), syntype, MNHN-IK-2000-386. D. Cladiella letourneuxi (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), syntype, MNHN-IK-2000-31. E. Cladiella lineata (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), holotype MNHN-IK-2000-387. F. Cladiella michelini (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), syntype, MNHN-IK-2000-388.

FIGURE 38. Cladiella lineata (Tixier-Durivault, 1944), holotype MNHN-IK-2000-387. Scanning electron micrographs of dumbbells from the interior of the base.