Scleractinia taxon detailsMerulina Ehrenberg, 1834
 206610 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:206610)
accepted
Genus
Madrepora ampliata Ellis & Solander, 1786 accepted as Merulina ampliata (Ellis & Solander, 1786) (type by original designation)
Clavarina Verrill, 1864 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Paraclavarina Veron, 1985 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Scapophyllia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
marine,
recent + fossil
Ehrenberg, C. G. (1834). Beiträge zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallenthiere im allgemeinen, und besonders des rothen Meeres, nebst einem Versuche zur physiologischen Systematik derselben. <em>Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin.</em> 1: 225-380., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29725862 [details]
Description 'Fere pedalis, frondibus liberis, subflabellatis, e ramulis coalitis dichotome colliculatis, collibus lamelloso-serratis,...
Description 'Fere pedalis, frondibus liberis, subflabellatis, e ramulis coalitis dichotome colliculatis, collibus lamelloso-serratis, asperrimis, vix lineam altis, stellis in seriebus dichotomis saepe confluentibus positis, sulcis lineam latis, parietibus turgidis, 2''' distantibus.' (Ehrenberg, 1834: 328) [details]
Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2025). World List of Scleractinia. Merulina Ehrenberg, 1834. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/scleractinia/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=206610 on 2025-05-04
Date action by 2006-09-25 06:54:45Z changed Martinez, Olga
original description
Ehrenberg, C. G. (1834). Beiträge zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallenthiere im allgemeinen, und besonders des rothen Meeres, nebst einem Versuche zur physiologischen Systematik derselben. <em>Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin.</em> 1: 225-380., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29725862 [details]
original description (of Paraclavarina Veron, 1985) Veron JEN. (1985). New Scleractinia from Australian coral reefs. <em>Records of the Western Australian Museum.</em> 12: 147-183. [details] original description (of Clavarina Verrill, 1864) Verrill, A. E. (1864). List of the polyps and corals sent by the Museum of Comparative Zoology to other institutions in exchange, with annotations. <em>Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.</em> 1: 29-60., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6587563 [details] original description (of Scapophyllia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848) Milne Edwards, H.; Haime, J. (1848). Note sur la classification de la deuxième tribu de la famille des Astréides. <em>Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences, Paris.</em> 27: 490–497., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.29692 [details] basis of record Veron JEN. (1986). Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. <em>Angus & Robertson Publishers.</em> [details] additional source Neave, Sheffield Airey. (1939-1996). Nomenclator Zoologicus vol. 1-10 Online. <em>[Online Nomenclator Zoologicus at Checklistbank. Ubio link has gone].</em> , available online at https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/126539/about [details] additional source Randall RH. (2003). An annotated checklist of hydrozoan and scleractinian corals collected from Guam and other Mariana Islands. <em>Micronesica.</em> 35-36: 121-137. page(s): 134 [details] additional source Veron JEN, Pichon M. (1980). Scleractinia of Eastern Australia – Part III. Family Agariciidae, Siderastreidae, Fungiidae, Oculinidae, Merulinidae, Mussidae, Pectinidae, Caryophyllidae, Dendrophylliidae. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science Monograph Series.</em> 4: 1-459. [details] additional source Veron JEN. (2000). Corals of the World. Vol. 1–3. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science and CRR, Queensland, Australia.</em> [details] additional source Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 166 (3): 465-529., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00855.x [details] additional source Matthai G. (1928). A Monograph of the Recent meandroid Astraeidae. <em>Catalogue of the Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum (Natural History).</em> 7: 1-288, pls. 1-72. [details] Available for editors  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., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12140 [details] additional source Duncan PM (1884) A revision of the families and genera of the sclerodermic Zoantharia, Ed. & H., or Madreporaria (M. Rugosa excepted). Journal of the Linnean Society of London, 18: 1-204. [details] additional source Khalil HM, Fathy MS, Al Sawy SM. (2021). Quaternary corals (Scleractinia: Merulinidae) from the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea Coast. <em>Geological Journal.</em> , available online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gj.4145?af=R [details] additional source Dunn, D. F. (1982). Cnidaria. McGraw-Hill Book Company. New York and other cities., volume 1, pp. 669-706 page(s): 702 [details]  Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Comparison Only one synapomorphy has been found for Merulina: septa in < 3 cycles (< 24 septa). It shares all other analyzed characters with Scapophyllia. The loss of epitheca and sparse endotheca occur at the base of the Merulina + Scapophyllia clade on the morphology tree, and all subcorallite character transitions occur at or before the most recent common ancestor of Merulina, Scapophyllia and Goniastrea. They are therefore plesiomorphic with respect to Merulina. Examination of the type material of Merulina scheeri at the Natural History Museum, London, suggests that this species shares all macromorphological characters with the other species in the genus, except for a thick thecal structure on the underside of the corallum. While the number of septa often exceeds 24, they clearly form two alternating cycles and the lower range is under 24. With its molecular phylogenetic affinity unknown, we hereby preserve its generic placement. [details]Description 'Fere pedalis, frondibus liberis, subflabellatis, e ramulis coalitis dichotome colliculatis, collibus lamelloso-serratis, asperrimis, vix lineam altis, stellis in seriebus dichotomis saepe confluentibus positis, sulcis lineam latis, parietibus turgidis, 2''' distantibus.' (Ehrenberg, 1834: 328) [details] Diagnosis Colonial, with intracalicular budding only. Corallites monomorphic and uniserial; monticules absent. Walls fused. Calice width small (< 4 mm), with low relief (< 3 mm). Costosepta confluent. Septa in < 3 cycles (< 24 septa). Free septa present but irregular. Septa spaced 6–11 septa per 5 mm. Costosepta equal in relative thickness. Columellae trabecular but compact (1–3 threads), < 1/4 of calice width, and continuous among adjacent corallites. Paliform (uniaxial) lobes well developed. Epitheca absent and endotheca sparse. Tooth base at mid-calice circular. Tooth tip at mid-calice irregular; tip orientation perpendicular to septum. 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 palisade. Walls formed by strong abortive septa and partial septotheca; trabeculothecal elements may be present. Thickening deposits fibrous. Costa center clusters weak; < 0.3 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 genus was first described as part of the family Daedalina Ehrenberg 1834: 315, and subsequently Astraeidae Dana, 1846: 154, which incorporated a diversity of genera including Lobophyllia de Blainville, 1830: 321, Favia Milne Edwards and Haime, 1857, vol. 2: 426, and Mycedium Milne Edwards and Haime, 1851, vol. 15: 130. The designation of Merulina as the type of Merulinidae Verrill, 1865, was unclear since the family name was only listed and not defined (Verrill, 1865: 146), but this had thereafter been assumed. Even as Daedalina's constituent genera were redistributed into newly-erected families such as Mussidae Ortmann, 1890: 315, Faviidae Gregory, 1900: 29, Trachyphylliidae Verrill, 1901: 84, and Pectiniidae Vaughan and Wells, 1943: 196, the placement of Merulina remained ambiguous according to some authors (Vaughan, 1918; Hoffmeister, 1925), while Hickson (1924), Faustino (1927) and Matthai (1928) continued to recognize Dana's (1846) Astraeidae. The separation of Merulina from Faviidae Gregory, 1900, was only complete in the comprehensive treatise by Vaughan and Wells (1943). Molecular data supports Merulina as nested within the largest clade of Goniastrea but the latter is not monophyletic as it minimally excludes G. aspera and G. palauensis (Fukami et al., 2004, 2008; Kitahara et al., 2010; Huang et al., 2011; Huang 2012; Arrigoni et al., 2012). In contrast, the morphological tree supports Merulina as sister taxon to Scapophyllia, which together are sister group to the main clade of Goniastrea that includes G. retiformis, its type species. [details] Unreviewed
Remark Type species: Madrepora ampliata Ellis & Solander, 1786 (Veron, 1986). [details]
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL) (from synonym Scapophyllia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848) To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Merulina) To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Scapophyllia) (from synonym Scapophyllia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848) To Genbank (from synonym Scapophyllia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848) To Genbank (from synonym Paraclavarina Veron, 1985) To Genbank To ITIS |
