Zoological Studies

Vol. 50 No. 3, 2011

New Species of Octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) from the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan

Yehuda Benayahu1,* and Leendert Pieter van Ofwegen2

1Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv Univ., Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel
2Nederlands Center for Biodiversity Naturalis, PO Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands. E-mail:leen.vanofwegen@ncbnaturalis.nl

Yehuda Benayahu and Leendert Pieter van Ofwegen (2011) As an outcome of an octocoral survey conducted on reefs in the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan, 3 new species of the genera Lobophytum and Sinularia (family Alcyoniidae) are described: L. hsiehi sp. nov., S. daii sp. nov., and S. soongi sp. nov. Lobophytum hsiehi sp. nov. belongs to the mixed clade of Sarcophyton and Lobophytum nominal species with intermediate morphologies and was compared to all other species of that clade. The new Sinularia species are assigned to their respective clades and compared to species with similar sclerites.

Key words: Octocorallia, Lobophytum, Sinularia, New species, Taiwan.

*Correspondence: E-mail:yehudaB@tauex.tau.ac.il