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The morphometric and molecular boundaries between twelve Psammocora (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) nominal species were addressed. The type specimens of Psammocora haimiana, P. togianensis, P. folium, P. digitata, Maeandroseris australiae, P. samoensis, P. superficialis, P. profundacella, P. nierstraszi, P. verrilli, and P. albopicta, were analysed together with specimens from museum collections, including those depicted in widely cited taxonomic descriptions, and material collected for this study in different parts of the Indo-Pacific. Morphometric analyses of the dimensions of skeletal structures allowed the identification of groups of specimens with similar morphologies. Congruency between these groups and current species whose synonymies and descriptions were found in recent taxonomic references was, hence, investigated and the species revised. Finally, the phylogenetic relationships of a representative subset of specimens were reconstructed based on rDNA and COI, thus allowing a direct link between morphologic and genetic information. Incongruence between type of morphology and literature descriptions was evidenced for some widely recognised species. Based on this integrated approach, five species were unambiguously identified. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, , 421-456. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indo-Pacific coral genus Psammocora Dana (1846) has never been formally revised, and its phylogeny has only been partially explored. Several synonymies have been proposed for the 11 nominal species which have highly plastic branching growth forms. In the present study, the definition of genetic and morphologic boundaries among three currently recognized branching morpho-species, Psammocora stellata, Psammocora contigua and Psammocora obtusangula, is addressed through a joint morphometric and molecular study using corallite and branch measurements, and a portion of the β-tubulin gene as a marker. The results show a morphological and partial phylogenetic distinction between P. stellata specimens and a complex composed of P. contigua and P. obtusangula, which is interpreted as a synonym species of P. contigua. Among the factors that could be responsible for the lack of reciprocal monophyly of the three species, hybridization is considered the most likely, due to the presence of interspecific recombinant sequences. Type material of nominal species of branching Psammocora is examined and classified based on genetically defined groups, and compared with synonym in the literature. Among the morphological characters used, corallite variables were best for discriminating between the two lineages and allow recognition of putative hybrid specimens. Psammocora stellata is reported for the first time in the western Indian Ocean (Mayotte), thus greatly extending its known distribution range. Finally, a hybrid swarm is identified in the Arabo-Persian Gulf, while no genetic structure is detected elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Samples of Siderastrea collected by the geologist C. F. Hartt during expedition to Brazil (19th century), and deposited at the National Museum of the Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, have been re-examined. Taxonomical analyses resulted in the identification of a colony of S. siderea from offshore northern Bahia state. Following recent studies, the occurrence of Caribbean siderastreids to western South Atlantic provides new criteria to assess intra- and interpopulational morphological variation of the endemic S. stellata, refuting historical trends of synonymizations possibly biased by long-term taxonomical misunderstandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until coral molecular phylogenies were published, the genus Plesiastrea was traditionally part of the family Faviidae and considered by several authors to be closely related to the genus Montastraea. However, genetic data has shown that Plesiastrea versipora, the genus type species, is evolutionarily distinct within the Robust clade of the Scleractinia and does not belong to the large clade grouping most representatives of the families Faviidae, including Montastraea, Mussidae, Merulinidae, Trachyphylliidae, and Pectiniidae. Instead, P. versipora is closely related to non reef-dwelling taxa currently ascribed to the Oculinidae (Cyathelia axillaris) and Caryophylliidae (Trochocyathus efateensis). However, no discussion on the morphologic features of P. versipora compared to other taxa has been published yet. Moreover, no information is available about the phylogenetic placement of Plesiastrea devantieri, the only other species in the genus. The phylogeny of both Plesiastrea species was addressed through molecular analyses (COI and rDNA) and morphological analysis. Morphological differences between the two species included number of septa, cycles of vertical structures in front of the septa and septal micromorphology. On the basis of these data and nuclear and mitochondrial markers, P. devantieri belongs to the Faviidae-Merulinidae-Pectiniidae-Trachyphylliidae clade (Clade XVII sensu Fukami et al., 2008) and is most closely related to Goniastrea aspera and G. palauensis. The type species of the genus Goniastrea, G. retiformis, however, is not closely related to either G. aspera and G. palauensis, or to P. devantieri. Taxonomic implications of these findings and morphologic affinities between the two species and closely related taxa are discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]