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Every day new species from the animal and plant kingdoms are discovered and described, often after months of field research.
Thus the idealized, exploratory, yet adventurous approach, but, the majority of species discoveries actually occur in the processing of collected specimens in a museum, according to Dr. Gustav M. Kessel of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Dr. Kessel took on this challenge and his work resulted in an initial description of a whopping 10 new species, all previously assigned to Alcyonium aurantiacum.
One of these new species is the soft coral Ushanaia solida.
The holotype of Ushanaia solida consists of three loosely connected main lobes, the holotype is 4 cm high and 5 cm wide.
In ethanol the coral is beige to pale orange.
The polyps are densely arranged over the entire of the colony's surface, white, 0.75 mm to 1 mm in size when expanded.
An in situ photo of a Living Coral is not currently available, same for water depth and water temperatures derived from this.
Etymology:
The genus name "Ushanaia" was named after Dr. Kessel's fiancée, Ushana.
Etymology:
The species name is the Latin word 'solida', meaning 'solid' or 'three-dimensional', referring to the much thicker, fleshier colony form of Ushanaia solida compared to Ushanai ferruginea or Ushanai fervens .
Literature finding::
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
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: doi.org, URL: zoobank.org
creativecommons.org
Thus the idealized, exploratory, yet adventurous approach, but, the majority of species discoveries actually occur in the processing of collected specimens in a museum, according to Dr. Gustav M. Kessel of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Dr. Kessel took on this challenge and his work resulted in an initial description of a whopping 10 new species, all previously assigned to Alcyonium aurantiacum.
One of these new species is the soft coral Ushanaia solida.
The holotype of Ushanaia solida consists of three loosely connected main lobes, the holotype is 4 cm high and 5 cm wide.
In ethanol the coral is beige to pale orange.
The polyps are densely arranged over the entire of the colony's surface, white, 0.75 mm to 1 mm in size when expanded.
An in situ photo of a Living Coral is not currently available, same for water depth and water temperatures derived from this.
Etymology:
The genus name "Ushanaia" was named after Dr. Kessel's fiancée, Ushana.
Etymology:
The species name is the Latin word 'solida', meaning 'solid' or 'three-dimensional', referring to the much thicker, fleshier colony form of Ushanaia solida compared to Ushanai ferruginea or Ushanai fervens .
Literature finding::
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
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: doi.org, URL: zoobank.org
creativecommons.org
