Nomenclature of Aulactinia (= Bunodactis ), with description of Aulactinia incubans n.sp. (Coelenterata: Actiniaria), an internally brooding sea anemone from Puget Sound

Aulactinia incubans n.sp. is an internally brooding actinian known from the San Juan Archipelago, Washington, U.S.A., and from Torch Bay, Alaska, U.S.A. Found in sheltered intertidal habitats, this sea anemone averages 25–30 mm in pedal disc diameter and has fewer than 65 tentacles. Females, hermaph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Dunn, Daphne Fautin, Chia, Fu-Shiang, Levine, Regina
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1980
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z80-284
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z80-284
Description
Summary:Aulactinia incubans n.sp. is an internally brooding actinian known from the San Juan Archipelago, Washington, U.S.A., and from Torch Bay, Alaska, U.S.A. Found in sheltered intertidal habitats, this sea anemone averages 25–30 mm in pedal disc diameter and has fewer than 65 tentacles. Females, hermaphrodites, sexually undifferentiated, and possibly male individuals are known. Aulactinia incubans releases its brooded young through the pore at the tip of each tentacle; the young are tentaculate at the time of release. This species fits genus Bunodactis in all respects except that the outer tentacles of some individuals contain atrichous nematocysts. We believe that this feature alone, which is not apparent in all specimens of the species, does not require naming a new genus. Rather, we broaden the definition of genus Aulactinia, a name that has priority over Bunodactis, to include this character.