Tethocyathus variabilis Cairns 1979

• Main Authors: Reyes, Javier, Santodomingo, Nadiezhda, Cairns, Stephen
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2009
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Scleractinia; Caryophylliidae; Tethocyathus; Tethocyathus variabilis; Scotia Sea; Rosario; Fossa; San Bernardo
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5313876; https://zenodo.org/record/5313876

Tethocyathus variabilis Cairns, 1979 Figs. 2P–Q Tethocyathus cylindraceus Pourtalès, 1868: 134 (in part); 1871: 13 (in part); 1880: 101 (in part). Tethocyathus laevigatus Pourtalès, 1878: 202 (in part). Tethocyathus rawsonii Pourtalès, 1880: 101 (in part). Asterosmilia prolifera Squires, 1959: 12. Tethocyathus variabilis Cairns, 1979: 86–87, pl. 15, figs. 7–10— Zibrowius, 1980: 81–82, pl. 37, figs. A–N, pl. 38, figs. A–L.— Santodomingo et al. , 2007: 286 (listed). Remarks: Colombian specimens have a thick and banded epitheca, which covers the costae. Near the calicular edge, between the epitheca and the theca, there is a narrow and deep notch. Epitheca bands disappear at 3/4 of the corallite length, showing the costae with one or two pointed granules; the shallow and wide intercostal furrows are twice the costal width. Colombian specimen was identified as T. variabilis because of their thick epitheca and their well defined palar crown before S2. Cairns (1979: 86) description read as “S1 and S4 are straight, but lower inner edges of S2 and S3 have numerous undulations in the proximity of the columella”, however Colombian specimen showed a serrated S3–S4 axial septal edge resembling T. rawsonii . In spite of this similarity to T. rawsonii , T. variabilis differs in the palar arrangement (one P2), the epitheca type and the junction of the inferior-superior septa throughout their paliform lobes. Colombian specimen exhibits the septa joined to the columella only in the deep fossa. Distribution: Antillean distribution, also in Yucatan channel; 250–576 m (Cairns 1979). Eastern Atlantic, off the western Sahara coast and Azores; 250–860m depth (Zibrowius 1980). In Colombia, one specimen was collected off San Bernardo Islands at 106 m depth. This is the first record for Colombia, and it extends the bathymetrical range of the species from the upper slope up to the continental shelf. Material: INV CNI2739, 1 specimen, D38. : Published as part of Reyes, Javier, Santodomingo, Nadiezhda & Cairns, Stephen, 2009, Caryophylliidae (Scleractinia) from the Colombian Caribbean, pp. 1-39 in Zootaxa 2262 (1) on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2262.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5306371 : {"references": ["Cairns, S. D. (1979) The deep-water Scleractinia of the Caribbean Sea and adjacent waters. Studies on the Fauna of Curacao and other Caribbean Islands, 57, 341 pp.", "Pourtales, L. F. (1868) Contributions to the fauna of the Gulf Stream at great depths (2 d series). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 7 (1), 121 - 141.", "Pourtales, L. F. (1878) Report on the Crinoids and Corals. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 5 (9), 197 - 212.", "Pourtales, L. F. (1880) Report on the Corals and Antipatharia. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Caribbean sea, 1878 - 79, by the United States coast survey steamer \" Blake \", commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. Part VI. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 6 (4), 95 - 120.", "Squires, D. F. (1959) Deep sea corals collected by the Lamont Geological Observatory. 2. Scotia sea corals. American Museum Novitates, 2046, 1 - 48.", "Zibrowius, H. (1980) Les Scleractiniaries de la Mediterranee et de l'Atlantique nord-oriental. Memories de l'Institut Oceanographique, Monaco, 11, 248 pp., 107 pls.", "Santodomingo, N., Reyes, J., Gracia, A., Martinez, A., Ojeda, G. & Garcia, C. (2007) Azooxanthellate Madracis coral communities off San Bernardo and Rosario Islands (Colombian Caribbean). Bulletin of Marine Science, 81 (Supplement 1), 273 - 287."]}