WoRMS taxon details
Micromussa Veron, 2000
267590 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:267590)
accepted
Genus
Acanthastrea amakusensis Veron, 1990 accepted as Micromussa amakusensis (Veron, 1990) (type by original designation)
- Species Micromussa amakusensis (Veron, 1990)
- Species Micromussa indiana Benzoni & Arrigoni, 2016
- Species Micromussa lordhowensis (Veron & Pichon, 1982)
- Species Micromussa multipunctata (Hodgson, 1985)
- Species Micromussa pacifica Benzoni & Arrigoni, 2016
- Species Micromussa regularis (Veron, 2000)
- Species Micromussa diminuta Veron, 2000 accepted as Goniopora diminuta (Veron, 2000) (unaccepted > superseded combination, basionym)
- Species Micromussa minuta (Moll & Best, 1984) accepted as Acanthastrea minuta Moll & Best, 1984 (unaccepted > superseded combination)
marine, fresh, terrestrial
Veron JEN. (2000). Corals of the World. Vol. 1–3. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science and CRR, Queensland, Australia.</em> [details]
Description 'Colonies are submassive or encrusting and usually flat. Corallites are cerioid or subplocoid, either circular or angular...
Description 'Colonies are submassive or encrusting and usually flat. Corallites are cerioid or subplocoid, either circular or angular in shape and up to 8 millimetres diameter. Septa are thickened at the corallite wall, and have conspicuous teeth. Colonies may have fleshy tissue over the skeleton, but skeletal structures remain visible. Tentacles are extended only at night.' (Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 8) [details]
Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2025). World List of Scleractinia. Micromussa Veron, 2000. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=267590 on 2025-07-15
Date
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Nomenclature
original description
Veron JEN. (2000). Corals of the World. Vol. 1–3. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science and CRR, Queensland, Australia.</em> [details]
basis of record van der Land, J. (ed). (2008). UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO). , available online at http://www.marinespecies.org/urmo/ [details]
basis of record van der Land, J. (ed). (2008). UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO). , available online at http://www.marinespecies.org/urmo/ [details]
Taxonomy
redescription
Arrigoni R, Benzoni F, Huang D, Fukami H, Chen CA, Berumen ML, Hoogenboom M, Thomson DP, Hoeksema BW, Budd AF, Zayasu Y, Terraneo TI, Kitano YF, Baird AH. (2016). When forms meet genes: revision of the scleractinian genera Micromussa and Homophyllia (Lobophylliidae) with a description of two new species and one new genus. <em>Contributions to Zoology.</em> 85 (4): 387-422., available online at https://doi.org/10.1163/18759866-08504002 [details] Available for editors 
[request]
[request]Other
context source (Hexacorallia)
Fautin, Daphne G. (2013). Hexacorallians of the World. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Huang D, Arrigoni R, Benzoni F, Fukami H, Knowlton N, Smith ND, Stolarski J, Chou LM, Budd AF. (2016). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Lobophylliidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 178(3): 436-481., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12391 [details]
additional source Veron JEN. (2002). New species described in Corals of the World. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science Monograph Series.</em> 11: 1-209. [details]
additional source Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 166 (3): 465-529., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00855.x [details]
additional source Arrigoni R, Terraneo TI, Galli P, Benzoni F (2014) Lobophylliidae (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) reshuffled: Pervasive . non-monophyly at genus level. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 73: 60-64. [details]
additional source Huang D, Arrigoni R, Benzoni F, Fukami H, Knowlton N, Smith ND, Stolarski J, Chou LM, Budd AF. (2016). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Lobophylliidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 178(3): 436-481., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12391 [details]
additional source Veron JEN. (2002). New species described in Corals of the World. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science Monograph Series.</em> 11: 1-209. [details]
additional source Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 166 (3): 465-529., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00855.x [details]
additional source Arrigoni R, Terraneo TI, Galli P, Benzoni F (2014) Lobophylliidae (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) reshuffled: Pervasive . non-monophyly at genus level. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 73: 60-64. [details]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Comparison Two unambiguous synapomorphies support the Micromussa clade (bootstrap value of 58)—limited coenosteum (likelihood of 0.92 based on the Mk1 model) and strong (pointed) granules on the septal face (likelihood 0.98). Micromussa is the sister genus to Homophyllia based on molecular characters, but forms a paraphyletic group with Homophyllia and Australophyllia when analysed using morphological data. Micromussa is easily distinguished from these closely-related genera by their less numerous septa (24–36), costosepta that are not confluent, shorter distance between costa centre clusters (0.3–0.6 mm), and the two synapomorphies. [details]Description 'Colonies are submassive or encrusting and usually flat. Corallites are cerioid or subplocoid, either circular or angular in shape and up to 8 millimetres diameter. Septa are thickened at the corallite wall, and have conspicuous teeth. Colonies may have fleshy tissue over the skeleton, but skeletal structures remain visible. Tentacles are extended only at night.' (Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 8) [details]
Diagnosis Colonial; encrusting or massive. Budding intracalicular and extracalicular. Corallites monomorphic; discrete. Monticules absent. Coenosteum spinose; usually limited (includes double wall). Calice width medium (4–15 mm), with medium relief (3–6 mm). Costosepta mostly not confluent. Septa typically in three cycles (24–36 septa), although M. pacifica may contain more than 36 septa. Free septa irregular. Septa spaced 6–11 septa per 5 mm. Costosepta unequal in relative thickness. Columellae trabecular and spongy (> three threads), < 1/4 of calice width, and discontinuous among adjacent corallites with lamellar linkage. Internal lobes usually absent. Epitheca well developed. Endotheca low-moderate (tabular). Tooth base at midcalice elliptical-parallel. Tooth tip orientation parallel. Tooth height medium (0.3–0.6 mm). Tooth spacing medium (0.3–1.0 mm), with > six teeth per septum. Tooth shape equal between first and third order septa. Tooth size equal between wall and septum. Granules scattered on septal face; strong (pointed). Interarea smooth. Walls formed by dominant paratheca and partial septotheca. Thickening deposits in concentric rings with extensive stereome. Costa centre clusters strong; 0.3–0.6 mm between clusters; medial lines weak. Septum centre clusters weak; > 0.5 mm between clusters; medial lines weak. [details]
Remark Micromussa was established recently by Veron (2000, vol. 3: 8) to contain the designated type Acanthastrea amakusensis Veron, 1990: 137, as well as Acanthastrea minuta Moll and Best, 1984: 53, and a new species Micromussa diminuta Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 9. No data exist for the latter two species, but detailed observations by Arrigoni et al. (2016a) indicate that Acanthastrea minuta should not have been moved into Micromussa, while Micromussa diminuta actually belongs to Goniopora. Molecular analyses have also demonstrated that Acanthastrea lordhowensis Veron and Pichon, 1982: 138, and Montastrea multipunctata Hodgson, 1985: 284, are closely related to Micromussa amakusensis (Arrigoni et al., 2014b, c, 2015, 2016a). Specifically, Montastrea multipunctata is closely related to M. amakusensis and M. indiana, while Acanthastrea lordhowensis and M. pacifica are basal to the three species; these have all been placed in Micromussa (Arrigoni et al., 2016a). Our analyses using both molecular and morphological data support the clade grouping these five species, whose macromorphological characters are also shared with Acanthastrea regularis Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 16 (Appendix S2). We note that subcorallite morphology and molecular data have not been sampled for the latter species. Superficially, it resembles Favites valenciennesi (Milne Edwards and Haime, 1849b, vol. 12: 124), though possessing thicker walls and more exsert septal teeth. Based parsimoniously on the characters examinable for the holotype, it is clear Acanthastrea regularis has no affinity to Acanthastrea, and is herein transferred into Micromussa. Consequently, the described diversity of this genus currently stands at six species. Micromussa is widely distributed on the reefs of Indo-Pacific, present from the southern Red Sea (Arrigoni et al., 2016a) to as far east as the Marshall Islands in the Northern Hemisphere and Fiji in the Southern Hemisphere (Veron, 2000). [details]
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | コオオトゲキクメイシ属 | [details] |
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Micromussa)
To Genbank
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Micromussa)
To Genbank
From editor or global species database
Image from typetaxon
