Kotatea kurakootingotingo Kessel & Alderslade & Bilewitch & Schnabel & Norman & Potts & Gardner 2022, gen. et sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kessel, Gustav M.
name: Alderslade, Philip
name: Bilewitch, Jaret P.
name: Schnabel, Kareen E.
name: Norman, Jerry
name: Potts, Romana Tekaharoa
name: Gardner, Jonathan P. A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Anthozoa
Alcyonacea
Alcyoniidae
Kotatea
Kotatea kurakootingotingo

description: Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: EFF18A57-F73F-4434-9788-237264E59102
Figs 1A, 2D–E, 4A–B, 14A, 15–17
Māori name
Kura Kōtingotingo.
Diagnosis
Colonies robustly lobate and orange with distinct red or dark orange spots. Polyps white. Collaret and points may be colourless or dark orange, composed of warty to spiny spindles and well-developed thorny clubs. Tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like sclerites. Polyp neck contains warty rod-like forms. Polyp mounds contain similar sclerites, as well as cone-like clubs, spindle-like, rod-like and oval forms with warts in girdles. Lobe and base surface contains similar sclerites, but lacks well-developed clubs. Base surface also includes spheroids, a few clubs, and gradations between radiates and oval or rod-like forms with wart girdles and occasionally a narrow waist. Lobe and base interior contains highly sculptured rod-like, spindle-like and oval forms girdled with complex warts, spheroids particularly common in base interior.
Etymology
The species name was composed by the Ngāti Kurī Tira Me Te Wā Taiao (Science) Collective, and is a combination of the Māori words kura, red, and kōtingotingo, spotted. Note that for the species epithet, the ‘ ō ’ in kōtingotingo is replaced by ‘oo’ to indicate a long vowel sound without the use of a macron. Ngāti Kurī provided the following kōrero (narrative): “Kura Kōtingotingo’s spots are reminiscent of the dots on specific kōwhaiwhai patterns, which are used to represent ancestors and to serve as reminders to their whānau (family). The sacred red spots of Kura Kōtingotingo represent the sacred memory of our tūpuna (ancestors) and the legacy they leave for us in caring for nature. When they depart the living world, their wairua (spirits) rest awhile on Manawatāwhi. With teardrops of aroha (love), they look back for one last sight of Aotearoa, before continuing their journey to Te Ao Wairua (the spirit world), their final resting place. Our tūpuna remain forever etched into our memories. When you gaze upon the kōwhaiwhai patterns of the rafters in our wharenui (meeting house), the spots you see are symbols put there by the families. Whakapapa (genealogy) is celebrated in our rafter patterns. Look back on all our dots and enjoy the connectedness of whānau and whakapapa. Whakapapa is our map of infinite interconnectedness with our tūpuna and our taiao (natural world), linked to our spiritual domain.”
Material examined
Holotype NEW ZEALAND • Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Princes Islands; 34.1759° S, 172.04949° E; depth 10–20 m; 24 Feb. 2002; NIWA exped.; stn Z15942; NIWA 101538.
Paratypes NEW ZEALAND – Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands • 1 specimen; Manawatāwhi / Great Island; 34.15° S, 172.15° E; depth 7 m; 20 Apr. 1999; J. Starmer leg.; MAGNT C015221 • 1 specimen; Manawatāwhi / Great Island; 34.1662° S, 172.1502° E; depth 6 m; 20 Apr. 1999; Coral Reef Research Foundation exped.; MAGNT C013955 • 1 specimen; same collection data as for holotype; AK 73622.
Description (holotype, NIWA 101538)
Colony form
The holotype consists of a lobate colony, measuring 2.5 cm in height by 3.5 cm width (Figs 4B, 14A). The surface of the colony (ethanol-preserved) is orange, while sclerites immediately surrounding the polyps and those in the polyp neck are red or dark orange, producing a conspicuously spotted appearance. There is no clearly discernible basal section, and polyps are distributed more or less evenly across the entire surface of the colony. Polyps are white, 0.5–1.3 mm tall when expanded, with colourless collaret and points in the holotype (Fig. 2D), but see variability section below.
Sclerites
Points are composed of warty to spiny spindles and well-developed thorny clubs distally (~ 0.1–0.3 mm long) (Fig. 15A–B). Proximally, spindles become larger, more robust, and more crescentic (~ 0.25– 0.45 mm long), transitioning into a transverse orientation and merging with the collaret (Fig. 15A). The number of collaret rows is variable depending on polyp size, but in large polyps this is approximately seven rows (Fig. 17C). The tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like forms, often slightly crescentic (~ 0.08–0.21 mm long) (Fig. 15C). The polyp neck contains many warty rod-like forms (~ 0.08–0.12 mm long) (Fig. 15D), which extend some way into the polyp mound, where they grade into cone-like clubs, as well as spindle-like, rod-like and oval forms with warts arranged in girdles (~ 0.1–0.18 mm long) (Fig. 16A). Between polyp mounds, the surface of the lobes contains similar sclerites (~ 0.1–0.18 mm long) but lacks well-developed clubs (Fig. 16B). The surface of the base contains mostly smaller sclerites than the surface of the lobes, including spheroids, a few clubs, and a gradation between radiates and oval or rod-like forms, which are girdled with warts and some with a narrow waist (~ 0.08–0.14 mm long) (Fig. 17A). The interior of both the lobes and the base contains highly sculptured rod-like, spindle-like and oval forms that are girdled with complex warts, while spheroids are particularly common in the interior of the base. Generally, sclerites of the interior tend to be larger than those of the surface regions (~ 0.1–0.2 mm long) (Figs 16C, 17B).
Variability
Paratype MAGNT C013955 (Fig. 14A) consists of only a fragment and was originally part of a much larger colony, probably ~ 10 cm in width (Fig. 4A). Paratype MAGNT C015221 has mostly dark orange collaret and point sclerites (Fig. 2E) in its small polyps. All four preserved specimens are otherwise very similar in growth form and colour, matching the colouration of live colonies in situ (Fig. 4A–B). The three paratypes correspond very closely to the holotype in their sclerite composition and size ranges (Figs 15–17).
Comparisons
Specimens of Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov. are superficially similar to congeners with a robust, lobate growth form. However, K. kurakootingotingo and K. lobata gen. et sp. nov. specimens are easily distinguishable, as the latter are not spotted and completely lack the former’s large, highly sculptured spheroids in surface and interior sections (compare Figs 16B–C, 17A–B and 19F, 20, 21A). Conversely, specimens of K. kurakootingotingo lack the very large, highly branched, antler-like sclerites which are characteristic of interior sections in K. lobata (compare Figs 16C, 17B and 20A, 21A). Additionally, specimens of K. lobata are composed of smaller and much less robust sclerites overall (compare Figs 15–17 and 19–21).
Specimens of Kotatea kurakootingotingo gen. et sp. nov. differ from those of K. niwa gen. et sp. nov. in lacking the distinct double-heads of that species’ lobe surface and interior, while conversely, K. niwa lacks the rod-like and spindle-like forms present in the interiors of K. kurakootingotingo (compare Figs 16B–C, 17A–B and 22F–G, 23A–B). Additionally, the polyps of K. kurakootingotingo specimens are typically around twice as large as those in K. niwa (up to ~ 1.3 mm vs up to ~ 0.75 mm; compare Figs 17C and 23C). Note also that these two species were each resolved as monophyletic by phylogenetic analyses of mtMutS and 28S (Fig. 37).
Habitat and distribution
All specimens were collected at depths of ≤ 20 m at the Manawatāwhi/Three Kings Islands (Fig. 1A). Paratypes MAGNT C013955 and MAGNT C015221 were recorded as having been collected on a rocky reef.
description: Published as part of Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa & Gardner, Jonathan P. A., 2022, Dead man's fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833, pp. 1-85 in European Journal of Taxonomy 837 on pages 29-33, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.837.1923, http://zenodo.org/record/7084444