Kotatea raekura 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 raekura

description: Kotatea raekura gen. et sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5C90162B-2FE1-4A6C-93D5-BF309CA3C6D1
Figs 1A, 2H, 3D, 24A, 25, 26A–D
Māori name
Raekura.
Diagnosis
Colonies have branching lobes and are orange with white polyps. Collaret and points are orange and composed of warty, often flattened spindles and poorly developed thorny clubs. Tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like sclerites. Polyp neck contains warty rod-like forms. Polyp mounds contain thorny and warty clubs. Lobe surface contains similar clubs, as well as warty, girdled spindle-like forms. Base surface contains thorny clubs, radiates, and spindle-like forms girdled with spines or warts. Lobe and base interior contains irregular, branching, warty forms.
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 rae, forehead or ancient, treasured thoughts, and kura, which can mean red, but also red feathers used for decoration, treasure, sacred or precious possessions, divine law, philosophy and chief. Ngāti Kurī provided the following kōrero (narrative): “The forehead, the brain, this is where all pure thoughts are created and stored. Knowledge is passed on through wānanga (tribal knowledge and learning). Our mātauranga (knowledge) exists in both the visible and invisible universe. The taiao (natural world) says to us that we are simply guardians of a delicate balance of ecosystems. We need to continually create sustainable options to safeguard the future. We must listen to the voice of Papatūānuku (Earth mother). The orange crown at the top of Raekura’s polyps symbolises Te Ōpuawānanga (the flowering of knowledge) that is prevalent in the teachings of our tūpuna (ancestors). We must continue to strive to seek new knowledge whilst holding on to our ancient knowledge. Raekura explores the many dimensions towards knowledge acquisition. Many iwi and hapū (tribes and sub-tribes) have their unique complementing mātauranga. Dr Rangi Matamua of Tūhoe was given a manuscript from his grandfather to share the astronomical knowledge written by their tūpuna Te Kokau Himiona Te Pikikotuku and his son Rawiri Te Kokau in the 19 th century. His grandfather uttered these wise words: ‘Knowledge that isn’t shared isn’t knowledge’.”
Material examined
Holotype NEW ZEALAND • Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Princes Islands; 34.1759° S, 172.0495° E; depth 10–20 m; 24 Feb. 2002; NIWA exped.; stn Z15942; NIWA 101537.
Paratypes NEW ZEALAND • 1 specimen; same collection data as for holotype; AK 73621 • 2 specimens; Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Princes Islands; 34.1777° S, 172.0465° E; depth 6–11 m; 15 Apr. 1999; Coral Reef Research Foundation exped; stn Z15632; NIWA 100968.
Additional material
NEW ZEALAND – Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands • 1 specimen; Princes Islands; 34.1667° S, 172.0500° E; depth 5–10 m; 15 Apr. 1999; J. Starmer leg.; MAGNT C015223 • 1 specimen; Princes Islands; 34.1777° S, 172.0465° E; depth 10 m; 15 Apr. 1999; Coral Reef Research Foundation exped.; MAGNT C013954 • 2 specimens; Ōhau / West Island; 34.1839° S, 172.0304° E; depth 6–11 m; 12 Apr. 2013; S. Hannam et al. leg.; stn TK2013-25-276; AK 656516.
Description (holotype, NIWA 101537)
Colony form
The holotype (Fig. 24A) is a fragment of a larger colony (Fig. 3D) and measures 6 cm in height by 6 cm width. It is orange (ethanol-preserved), fading towards the base. Polyps are white, 0.5–1 mm tall when expanded, with orange collaret and points (Fig. 2H). They occur all over the lobes but are most densely packed at their tips and absent from the base, which is ~ 2 cm tall.
Sclerites
Points are composed of warty spindles (~ 0.18–0.26 mm long), which are rarely branched and often flattened, and poorly developed thorny clubs distally (~ 0.1–0.2 mm long) (Fig. 25A–B). Proximally, the spindles become larger, more robust, and more crescentic (~ 0.28–0.36 mm long), transitioning into a transverse orientation and merging with the collaret, which is three to five rows deep (Figs 5A, 26D). The tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like forms, often curved (~ 0.1–0.2 mm long) (Fig. 25C), and the polyp neck contains warty rod-like forms (~ 0.08–0.12 mm long) (Fig. 25D). Polyp mounds are composed mainly of thorny and warty clubs (~ 0.08–0.14 mm long) (Fig. 25E). The surface of lobes between mounds contains similar clubs along with numerous warty, girdled spindle-like forms (~ 0.08– 0.18 mm long) (Fig. 25F). The surface of the base contains thorny clubs along with some radiates and spindle-like forms girdled with spines or warts, which tend to have a simpler surface ornamentation and are smaller than those in the lobe surface (~ 0.06–0.14 mm long) (Fig. 26B). The sclerites in the interior of both the lobes and the base are composed mainly of irregular forms with branches and very tall warts (~ 0.1–0.2 mm long) (Fig. 26A, C).
Variability
All preserved specimens are similar in growth form, but colour can vary from one colony to another, with some specimens being paler and some darker than the holotype (Fig. 24A). The colour of the collaret and points corresponds roughly to the overall colour of the colony, being paler in some specimens and darker in others, but never fully colourless. Both paratype lots and the three non-type lots correspond very closely with the sclerite composition and size ranges described for the holotype (Figs 25–26).
Comparisons
Kotatea raekura gen. et sp. nov. is most similar to K. aurantiaca gen. et comb. nov. and K. teorowai gen. et sp. nov., but easily distinguished from both these species by its orange collaret and points. Further differences from K. aurantiaca gen. et comb. nov. are discussed under that species.
Apart from containing sclerites that are overall far more robust (compare Figs 25–26 and 28), Kotatea raekura gen. et sp. nov. specimens further differ from K. teorowai gen. et sp. nov. in possessing abundant interior sclerites sculptured with tall warts. In contrast, the few interior sclerites present in K. teorowai have only minimal surface ornamentation (compare Figs 26A, C and 27H). The colour difference between these two species is also conspicuous (compare Fig. 24A and 24B), and K. raekura has so far only been collected from much shallower depths than K. teorowai (<20 m vs ~ 70 m).
Habitat and distribution
All known specimens originate from shallow depths (≤ 20 m) at the Manawatāwhi/Three Kings Islands (Fig. 1A). MAGNT C013954 was recorded as growing on a rock wall.
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 43-48, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.837.1923, http://zenodo.org/record/7084444