The genus Tubastraea Lesson, 1830 comprises azooxanthellate corals commonly known as sun corals. Based on specimens collected from Dongshan Island, southeastern China, we describe a new species, Tubastraea candidiflora sp. nov. The species is distinguished from most congeners by the combination of pure white tentacles, a Pourtalès plan, a phaceloid to weakly branching colony form, and strongly differentiated costae. Pairwise comparisons of three commonly used markers (COI, IGR, and rDNA) show substantial rDNA divergence from congeners (p-distance = 2.61–6.09%). Phylogenetic analyses of the concatenated three-marker dataset recover the Dongshan specimens as a distinct lineage, and an independent UCE phylogenomic dataset recovers the same clade with strong support. Together, the morphological and molecular evidence supports T. candidiflora sp. nov. as a distinct species and expands current knowledge of Tubastraea diversity in subtropical China.
Anthozoa, Stony coral, Azooxanthellate, Dendrophylliidae, Sun coral
