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WoRMS taxon details

Orbicella Dana, 1846


Holotype of Madrepo...

AphiaID

758259 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:758259)

Classification

Status

accepted

Rank

Genus

Typetaxon

Madrepora annularis Ellis & Solander, 1786 accepted as Orbicella annularis (Ellis & Solander, 1786) (type by subsequent designation)

Typetaxon of

Orbicellidae Verrill, 1901
Orbicellidae Vaughan, 1902

Parent

Merulinidae Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857

Orig. name

Astraea (Orbicella) Dana, 1846

Synonymised names

Astraea (Orbicella) Dana, 1846 · unaccepted > superseded combination

Direct children (56)
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Species Orbicella annularis (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
Species Orbicella faveolata (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
Species Orbicella franksi (Gregory, 1895)

Subgenus Orbicella (Leptastraea) Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 accepted as Leptastrea Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 (unaccepted > misspelling)

  » Species Orbicella (Leptastraea) bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) accepted as Leptastrea bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) (unaccepted > superseded combination, basionym)
  » Species Orbicella (Leptastraea) bottai (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) accepted as Leptastrea bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) (unaccepted > superseded combination)
  » Species Orbicella (Leptastraea) ehrenbergiana (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) accepted as Leptastrea purpurea (Dana, 1846) (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)
  » Species Orbicella (Leptastraea) immersa (Klunzinger, 1879) accepted as Leptastrea bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)
  » Species Orbicella (Leptastraea) inaequalis (Klunzinger, 1879) accepted as Leptastrea inaequalis Klunzinger, 1879 (unaccepted > superseded combination, misspelling)

Subgenus Orbicella (Leptastrea) Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 accepted as Leptastrea Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)

» Species Orbicella (Leptastrea) bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) accepted as Leptastrea bottae (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) (unaccepted > superseded combination)
» Species Orbicella (Leptastrea) inaequalis (Klunzinger, 1879) accepted as Leptastrea inaequalis Klunzinger, 1879 (unaccepted > superseded combination)

Environment

marine, ~~fresh~~, ~~terrestrial~~

Original description

Dana, J.D. (1846-1849). Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia. 7: 1-740, 61 pls. (1846: 1-120, 709-720; 1848: 121-708, 721-740; 1849: atlas pls. 1-61)., available online at http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/usexex/navigation/ScientificText/USExEx19_08select.cfm [details]

(of Astraea (Orbicella) Dana, 1846) Dana, J.D. (1846-1849). Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia. 7: 1-740, 61 pls. (1846: 1-120, 709-720; 1848: 121-708, 721-740; 1849: atlas pls. 1-61)., available online at http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/usexex/navigation/ScientificText/USExEx19_08select.cfm [details]

Descriptive notes

Description 'Cells nearly circular, more or less prominent, not subdividing by growth, or rarely so; stars with distinct limits formed...

Description 'Cells nearly circular, more or less prominent, not subdividing by growth, or rarely so; stars with distinct limits formed by the coalescence laterally of the lamellae, and therefore cells appearing tubular, and separated by interstices' (Dana, 1846: 205) [details]

Taxonomic citation

Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2023). World List of Scleractinia. Orbicella Dana, 1846. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=758259 on 2023-03-28

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2014-03-16 13:26:33Z

created

Hoeksema, Bert

2019-01-01 17:32:59Z

changed

Hoeksema, Bert

2022-06-06 06:39:23Z

changed

Hoeksema, Bert

2022-11-25 10:16:10Z

changed

Hoeksema, Bert

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

[taxonomic tree]

original description Dana, J.D. (1846-1849). Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia. 7: 1-740, 61 pls. (1846: 1-120, 709-720; 1848: 121-708, 721-740; 1849: atlas pls. 1-61)., available online at http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/usexex/navigation/ScientificText/USExEx19_08select.cfm [details]

original description (of Astraea (Orbicella) Dana, 1846) Dana, J.D. (1846-1849). Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia. 7: 1-740, 61 pls. (1846: 1-120, 709-720; 1848: 121-708, 721-740; 1849: atlas pls. 1-61)., available online at http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/usexex/navigation/ScientificText/USExEx19_08select.cfm [details]

basis of record Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (3): 465-529., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00855.x [details]

additional source Yabe H, Sugiyama T. (1935). Revised list of the reef-corals from the Japanese seas and of the fossil reef corals of the raised reefs and the Ryukyu limestone of Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan. 42: 379-403.
page(s): 384 [details]

additional source Bassett-Smith, P.W. (1890). Report on the corals from Tizard and Macclesfield Banks, China Sea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History,. 6(35): 353-374, 443-458, pls. 12-14., available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939008694050
page(s): 359, 374 [details]

additional source Huang D, Benzoni F, Fukami H, Knowlton N, Smith ND, Budd AF (2014) Taxonomic classification of the reef coral families Merulinidae, Montastraeidae, and Diploastraeidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 171: 277–355. [details]

Present

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

Nontype BMNH, geounit Taiwanese Exclusive Economic Zone [details]

From editor or global species database

Comparison The present Orbicella members form a very well-supported clade, and a sister-clade relationship with Cyphastrea is recovered but not supported. It is remarkable that these two genera are recovered as sister taxa on the morphology tree, particularly because they differ in up to four macromorphological characters, two of which being the only synapomorphies inferred for Orbicella—equal costosepta thickness and large columellae. Costate coenosteum and the lack of paliform lobes also distinguish Orbicella from Cyphastrea, which has spinose coenosteum and weak or moderate development of paliform lobes. However, their affinity to each other may be expected in the context of subcorallite characters, which show that they share all but two features of irregular granule shape and partial paratheca in Orbicella, rather than strong, pointed granules and no paratheca at all in Cyphastrea. [details]

Diagnosis Colonial, with extracalicular budding only. Corallites monomorphic and discrete (1–3 centers); monticules absent. Coenosteum costate, moderate amount (< corallite diameter). Calice width small (< 4 mm), with low relief (< 3 mm). Costosepta not confluent. Septa in 3 cycles (24–36 septa). Free septa regular. Septa spaced > 11 septa per 5 mm. Costosepta equal in relative thickness. Columellae trabecular but compact (1–3 threads), ≥ 1/4 of calice width, and discontinuous among adjacent corallites. Paliform (uniaxial) lobes absent. Epitheca well developed and endotheca low-moderate (tabular). Tooth base at mid-calice circular. Tooth tip at mid-calice irregular; tip orientation multiaxial. Tooth height low (< 0.3 mm) and tooth spacing narrow (< 0.3 mm), with > 6 teeth per septum. Granules scattered on septal face; irregular in shape. Interarea smooth. Walls formed by dominant septotheca and partial paratheca; abortive septa absent. Thickening deposits fibrous. Costa center clusters weak; 0.3–0.6 mm between clusters; medial lines weak. Septum center clusters weak; < 0.3 mm between clusters; medial lines weak. Transverse crosses absent. Columella centers clustered. [details]

Remark The three Caribbean members of this genus used to be known as the Montastraea annularis complex (Knowlton et al., 1992; Weil and Knowlton, 1994), and were the focus of extensive research aimed at describing morphological, genetic, reproductive and physiological variation among them (Knowlton et al., 1992; van Veghel and Bak, 1993, 1994; van Veghel, 1994; van Veghel and Kahmann, 1994; Weil and Knowlton, 1994; van Veghel and Bosscher, 1995; van Veghel, Cleary and Bak, 1996; Knowlton et al., 1997; Lopez and Knowlton, 1997; Szmant et al., 1997; Lopez et al., 1999; Medina, Weil and Szmant, 1999; Manica and Carter, 2000; Knowlton and Budd, 2001; Fukami et al., 2004; Levitan et al., 2004, 2011, Fukami and Knowlton, 2005). Although currently restricted to the Caribbean showing no geographic overlap with any other living Merulinidae genus, the subgenus Orbicella described by Dana, 1846: 205 within Astrea also included numerous Indo-Pacific species such as Cyphastrea microphthalma, Astrea curta and Oulastrea crispata (incertae sedis). The subsequent designation of Madrepora annularis Ellis and Solander, 1786: 169 as type species by Vaughan, 1918: 85 also did not constrain its geographic range, as Plesiastrea versipora, Orbicella gravieri (synonym of P. versipora; Veron et al., 1977: 150) and Astrea curta were retained. Orbicella was finally synonymized by Vaughan and Wells, 1943: 173 as Montastraea de Blainville. Molecular data have generally placed the Orbicella clade as sister to Cyphastrea with good support (Fukami et al., 2004; Huang et al., 2011; Huang, 2012; Arrigoni et al., 2012; but see Fukami et al., 2008). [details]

To European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)
To Genbank


Holotype of Madrepo... [image from typetaxon]


Holotype of Madrepo...


Holotype of Madrepo... [image from typetaxon]


Holotype of Madrepo...

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WoRMS taxon details

Orbicella Dana, 1846

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