Scleractinia name details
Metaulastraea Dietrich, 1926 †
1581404 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:1581404)
unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Genus
Aulastraea pompeckji Dietrich, 1926 † accepted as Metaulastraea pompeckji (Dietrich, 1926) † (type by original designation)
marine, fresh, terrestrial
fossil only
Dietrich WO. (1926). Steinkorallen des Malms und der Unterkreide im südlichen Deutsch-Ostafrika. <em>Palaeontographica.</em> (Suppl.7) 1: 43-101. [details]
Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2025). World List of Scleractinia. Metaulastraea Dietrich, 1926 †. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/scleractinia/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1581404 on 2025-06-03
Date
action
by
original description
Dietrich WO. (1926). Steinkorallen des Malms und der Unterkreide im südlichen Deutsch-Ostafrika. <em>Palaeontographica.</em> (Suppl.7) 1: 43-101. [details]
basis of record Cairns, S.D., R. Baron-Szabo, A.F. Budd, B. Lathuilière, E. Roniewicz, J. Stolarski & K.G. Johnson. (2010). Corallosphere. , available online at http://www.corallosphere.org [details]
basis of record Cairns, S.D., R. Baron-Szabo, A.F. Budd, B. Lathuilière, E. Roniewicz, J. Stolarski & K.G. Johnson. (2010). Corallosphere. , available online at http://www.corallosphere.org [details]
From editor or global species database
Remark According to Loser (2008, p. 56), Metaulastraea Dietrich differed from Pleurostylina de Fromentel in lacking a very prominent, thick, and rhopaloid main septum. Therefore, he grouped it with the genus Amphiaulastraea Geyer. Re-study of the type material housed at the MNHN (Paris) (see Baron-Szabo, 2002, pl. 137, figs. 1-2 and 4) and at the "Humboldt Museum" (MB, Berlin) by Baron-Szabo in 2009 revealed, however, that these two taxa showed identical skeletal structures. The appearance of a rather prominent main septum in the type material of Pleurostylina can frequently only be observed on the upper surface of the specimen. In thin section, the main septal development can be rather irregular, thus closely corresponding to the kind seen in the type material of Metaulastraea of better preserved corallites, in which a more prominent septum can be observed. In addition, increase by Taschenknospung, which takes place by cutting off almost in a symmetrical fashion the corallite side that is opposite to the one with the main septum (a feature typically seen in Pleurostylina and similar to the kind seen in Pleurophyllia), can also be observed in the type material of Metaulastraea. In contrast, in Amphiaulastraea increase by Taschenknospung seems to occur in a rather irregular manner, including both irregular separation of corallite centers and development of new corallites inside the dissepimentarium. Therefore, Metaulastraea Dietrich is considered a junior synonym of Pleurostylina de Fromentel (Baron-Szabo, in press and in prep.) [details]
