Li, Y.; Zhan, Z.; Xu, K. (2021). Establishment of Alloptilella splendida gen. et sp. nov. and resurrection of Scytalium veneris (Thomson & Henderson, 1906), two sea pens (Cnidaria: Pennatulacea) from seamounts in the tropical Western Pacific. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology. 39(5): 1790-1804.
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Li, Y.; Zhan, Z.; Xu, K.
2021
Establishment of Alloptilella splendida gen. et sp. nov. and resurrection of Scytalium veneris (Thomson & Henderson, 1906), two sea pens (Cnidaria: Pennatulacea) from seamounts in the tropical Western Pacific
Sea pens are a highly specialized and morphologically distinct group of octocorallians, but
many taxa were poorly described and their phylogenetic relationships are still poorly known. We describe
two species of sea pens collected from the tropical Western Pacifi c: Alloptilella splendida gen. et sp. nov.
and Scytalium veneris (Thomson & Henderson, 1906). Alloptilella splendida gen. et sp. nov. accords with
the definition of the recently resurrected genus Ptilella Gray, 1870 in most characters, but differs from the
latter in the arrangement of autozooids and the location of mesozooids. The new species mostly resembles
Pennatula naresi Kölliker (1880), but differs by the location of mesozooids and the reddish color of sclerites
surrounding siphonozooids. The generic separation is also well supported by their genetic distances and
the molecular phylogenetic trees constructed by the concatenated mtMutS-COI-28S, where Alloptilella
clustered with Scytalium Herklots, 1858 and formed a clade with the cluster of Ptilella and Distichoptilum.
Scytalium veneris, usually considered as a junior synonym of Scytalium sarsii Herklots, 1858, is resurrected
by recognizing their distinctive diff erences. This is the first record of Scytalium veneris outside its type
locality, and the phylogenetic analysis indicates that Scytalium is a monophyletic group. Both the families
Pennatulidae and Virgulariidae are polyphyletic, and more morphological and molecular data are needed to
clarify the phylogenetic positions of pennatulacean families and genera.