Dendrophylliidae

Cup coral Balanophyllia sp., copyright Toby Hudson.

Belongs within: Hexacorallia.

The Dendrophylliidae are a group of corals characterised by irregularly porous thecal walls. Most species lack zooxanthellae, and include both solitary and colonial forms.

Characters (from Cairns 2002): Thecal wall irregularly porous (synapticulotheca), with pores and tissue lining pores being continuous from outside to inside of corallum; thin epitheca sometimes overlaying part or all of synapticulotheca; septa lamellar, smooth-edged (minitrabeculate), sometimes porous, often arranged according to 'Pourtalès plan', with septa of higher cycles longer and fusing in front of septa of lower cycles in a distinctive pattern.

<==Dendrophylliidae [Dendrophyllida, Dendrophylliina]
    |--Dendrophyllia manni B79
    |--Bathypsammia tintinnabulum (Pourtalès 1868) C77
    |--Enallopsammia profunda (Pourtalès 1867) C77
    |--Astroides calycularis (Pallas 1766) RL04
    |--Heteropsammia cochlea (Spengler 1781) MG-H11
    |--Tubastraea RB14
    |    |--T. coccinea RB14
    |    |--T. aurea PR72
    |    `--T. tenuilamellosa (Milne Edwards & Haime 1848) BC01
    |--Rhizopsammia C77
    |    |--R. manuelensis Chevalier 1966 C77
    |    `--R. minuta C-SC03
    |--Turbinaria M09
    |    |--T. frondens (Dana 1846) M09
    |    |--T. mesenterina (Lamarck 1816) M09
    |    |--T. peltata (Esper 1794) M09
    |    |--T. reniformis Bernard 1896 M09
    |    |--T. robusta H04
    |    |--T. stellulata (Lamarck 1816) M09
    |    `--T. transformis H04
    `--Balanophyllia Wood 1844 C77
         |--B. carinata (Semper 1872) MG-H11
         |--B. cornu Moseley 1881 MG-H11
         |--B. cyathoides (Pourtalès 1871) C77
         |--B. dentata Tenison Woods 1879 MG-H11
         |--B. desmophyllioides Vaughan 1907 MG-H11
         |--B. floridana Pourtalès 1868 [=B. florideana (l. c.)] C77
         `--B. palifera Pourtalès 1878 C77

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BC01] Boyko, C. B., & J. R. Cordeiro. 2001. Catalog of Recent type specimens in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. V. Mollusca, part 2 (class Gastropoda [exclusive of Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata], with supplements to Gastropoda [Opisthobranchia], and Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 262: 1–170.

[B79] Buss, L. W. 1979. Habitat selection, directional growth and spatial refuges: why colonial animals have more hiding places. In: Larwood, G., & B. R. Rosen (eds) Biology and Systematics of Colonial Organisms pp. 459–497. Academic Press: London.

[C77] Cairns, S. D. 1977. Stony corals. I. Caryophylliina and Dendrophylliina (Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Memoirs of the Hourglass Cruises 3 (4): 1–27.

[C-SC03] Cavalier-Smith, T., & E. E.-Y. Chao. 2003. Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and other Protozoa and early eukaryote megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution 56: 540–563.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[MG-H11] McEnnulty, F. R., K. L. Gowlett-Holmes, A. Williams, F. Althaus, J. Fromont, G. C. B. Poore, T. D. O'Hara, L. Marsh, P. Kott, S. Slack-Smith, P. Alderslade & M. V. Kitahara. 2011. The deepwater megabenthic invertebrates on the western continental margin of Australia (100–1100 m depths): composition, distribution and novelty. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 80: 1–191.

[M09] McKinney, D. 2009. A survey of the scleractinian corals at Mermaid, Scott, and Seringapatam Reefs, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 77: 105–143.

[PR72] Powers, D. A., & F. J. Rohlf. 1972. A numerical taxonomic study of Caribbean and Hawaiian reef corals. Systematic Zoology 21 (1): 53–64.

[RL04] Richter, A., & Á. A. Luque. 2004. Epitonium dendrophylliae (Gastropoda: Epitoniidae) feeding on Astroides calycularis (Anthozoa, Scleractinia). Journal of Molluscan Studies 70: 99–101.

[RB14] Rodríguez, E., M. S. Barbeitos, M. R. Brugler, L. M. Crowley, A. Grajales, L. Gusmão, V. Häussermann, A. Reft & M. Daly. 2014. Hidden among sea anemones: the first comprehensive phylogenetic reconstruction of the order Actiniaria (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) reveals a novel group of hexacorals. PLoS One 9 (5): e96998.