Epizoanthus karenae Philipp & Fautin, 2009, new species
Creators: name: Philipp, Nicholas A.
name: Fautin, Daphne G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Anthozoa
Zoantharia
Epizoanthidae
Epizoanthus
Epizoanthus karenae

description: Epizoanthus karenae new species
Figures 1 C, 2B
Material examined. Pacific Ocean, Australia, South Australia, Gambier Group, Wedge Island, NE point, ~ 35° 09’S, 136° 28’E, 8–10 m, collected by K.L. Gowlett-Holmes, 20 March 2001; SAM H1602, Holotype, 24 polyps. Pacific Ocean, Australia, Tasmania, Tasman Peninsula, off O’Hara Bay, ~ 43° 05’S, 147° 48’E, 15–20 m, collected by K.L. Gowlett-Holmes and G. Myers, 31 July 1991; KUDIZ 0 0 2983, Paratype, 15 polyps.
Colony morphology and color. In life, vivid yellow with dark-orange lines radiating on oral disc (Figure 1 C; Gowlett-Holmes 2008: p. 49, photo of “Undescribed species”). In preservative, dark-yellow/brown. Polyps close together, smaller ones surrounding larger ones. All protrude from surface of coenenchyme.
External anatomy. In preserved specimens, contracted polyps protrude no more than 12 mm from thin (1–2 mm thick) coenenchyme; 2–5 mm in diameter when contracted. Ectoderm and outer mesoglea densely encrusted with dark sand and quartz, contributing to brownish color. Scapus ridges obvious in closed polyps, number to 20 in small and large polyps.
Internal anatomy. Marginal sphincter muscle broad, alveoli not stratified and fill most of margin distally, transversely stratified and near endoderm proximally (Figure 2 B). Mesenteries number to 36 in smaller polyp (2.5 mm diameter) to 40 in many larger polyps (5 mm diameter). Macrocnemes (20 in polyps with 40 mesenteries) equal number of scapus ridges. Actinopharynx longitudinally corrugated. Siphonoglyph apparent. No zooxanthellae.
Cnidae. Cnidom spirocysts, basitrichs, holotrichs, microbasic b- mastigophores, microbasic p - mastigophores (Figure 3). See Table 3 for sizes and distribution.
Natural history, geography. Specimens studied were collected from a rock wall at 8– 20 m. Also known from New Zealand (Gowlett-Holmes 2008).
Etymology. Epizoanthus karenae n. sp. is named after Karen L. Gowlett-Holmes in honor of her many contributions to knowledge of the Australian fauna, and the wonderful photographs she has taken of so many animals.
individuals examined having a particular type of nematocyst to the total number examined; n is the number of measured
capsules. Measurements, in µm, are given as a range of length x width; values in parentheses are of exceptionally large or
small capsules. Letters refer to images in Figure 3.
E. karenae E. rodmani
Tissue Type N n Size N n Size
Tentacle: distal part spirocyst (F) 6/6 63 (13.3) 14.1–22.6 (23.8) x 6/6 64 12.6–22.6 x 2.3–4.3 2.3–4.3
basitrich (B) 6/6 51 16.4–28.5 x 2.3–5.7 3/6 23 15.7–19.3 (21.0) x 2.5–4.4 microbasic b - 6/6 64 (16.7) 17.8–28.6 (32.6) x 3/6 32 18.0–25.9 x 3.8–5.7 mastigophore (D) 3.1–5.5
Tentacle: proximal spirocyst (F) 6/6 60 14.5–23.3 x 2.0–4.3 6/6 63 13.2–22.7 x 2.2–4.0
part (5.6)
basitrich (B) 4/6 37 16.7–22.2 (24.4) x 4/6 41 (16.4) 17.7–22.1 (23.4) x 2.1–3.8 2.4–3.8 microbasic b - 6/6 60 16.5–30.4 x 3.0–5.2 5/6 45 (14.5) 16.9–23.6 x 3.3–5.6 mastigophore (D) (5.6)
Actinopharynx basitrich (B) 6/6 61 17.9–26.5 x 3.0–5.8 6/6 72 16.9–26.2 x 3.6–5.4
holotrich (G) 5/6 39 18.7–29.1 x 8.2–13.3 5/6 37 20.3–28.9 (30.4) x 9.8–18.5 holotrich (E) 4/6 36 9.0–13.3 x 3.0–5.5 5/6 52 (5.4) 7.0–12.7 x 2.8–4.3 microbasic p - 3/6 23 18.0–23.5 x 3.4–6.8 1/6 7 18.6–20.7 x 4.6–6.0 (8.1) mastigophore (C)
Filament holotrich (E) 6/6 57 8.9–14.5 x 3.1–5.8 6/6 60 8.0–13.6 (15.0) x 2.5–5.1 holotrich (G) 6/6 48 22.1–32.8 (36.0) x 6/6 44 19.3–31.3 x 10.0–16.2 9.7–16.2 (18.4)
microbasic b - 3/6 28 15.4–20.6 (23.0) x 3/6 21 15.7–21.2 (25.6) x 3.6–5.9 mastigophore (D) 3.6–5.3
microbasic p - 6/6 64 17.1–23.2 (25.1) x 6/6 59 (16.3) 18.1–22.2 (24.1) x mastigophore (C) 3.6–6.5 4.0–6.1
description: Published as part of Philipp, Nicholas A. & Fautin, Daphne G., 2009, Three new species of shallow water, yellow zoanthids (Hexacorallia: Zoanthidea: Epizoanthidae) from southern California, USA, and southern Australia, pp. 53-61 in Zootaxa 2058 on pages 58-59, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.274785