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Chironephthya mediterranea n. sp. (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nidaliidae), the first species of the genus discovered in the Mediterranean Sea

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Abstract

In this paper, a new species of the soft coral genus Chironephthya from the northwestern Mediterranean Sea is described and illustrated. Chironephthya mediterranea sp. nov. is formally described based on morphological, chromatic, molecular, and ecological data. A molecular comparison based on mitochondrial genes (mtMutS + COI) and the proposed extended barcode (mtMutS + Igr1 + COI) relates the Mediterranean species with other Chironephthya species. The new Mediterranean species is compared with the available information and type materials from its Atlantic congeners, Chironephthya agassizii and Chironephthya caribaea. This is the first time that a species of this genus is reported from the Mediterranean Sea. Along with Nidalia studeri, this is the second species of the family Nidaliidae found in this biogeographic region. Both nidaliid species were collected in the shelf break area. The present report adds to previous knowledge of Chironephtya and its global distribution. Although the molecular analyses carried out do not support the monophyly of the family Nidaliidae, they clearly indicate a close relationship between the genera Siphonogorgia and Chironephthya, which are both in need of revision.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the scientists and crew on board the BIO García del Cid during the “INDEMARES-CSIC IV-V-VI, Menorca II-III-IV” cruises, and Stefano Ambroso, Carlos Dominguez-Carrió, Alejandro Olariaga, Ariadna Purroy, and Susana Requena. Our sincere thanks to Gavin Newman (Nemo ROV) for his proven expertise collecting the specimens of the new species described here, sometimes working in difficult weather conditions, as well as the JAGO team (J. Schauer and K. Hissmann) from IFM-GEOMAR (Kiel, Germany). Our thanks are also addressed to Gonzalo Giribet and Adam J. Baldinger (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard) for the loan of the Deichmann type materials of the two Western Atlantic Chironephthya species, and to Stephen D. Cairns (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History) for the loan of additional Chironephthya colonies for comparison and molecular research. The study was financed within the framework of the LIFE + INDEMARES project: “Inventario y designación de la Red Natura 2000 en áreas marinas del Estado español” (LIFE07 NAT/E/000732). Thanks to Pedro Martínez-Arbizu and Bert W. Hoeksema, Editors of MB, and thee anonymous referees, whose suggestions and criticisms have improved the first version of this manuscript. Thanks also to Dr. Estefanía Rdríguez (American Museum of Natural History, New York) for the manuscript revision and comments. We thank Mr. Tony Krupa for reviewing the English version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversidad y Ecología de Invertebrados Marinos, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Reina Mercedes 6, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    Pablo J. López-González

  2. Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Grinyó & Josep-Maria Gili

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  1. Pablo J. López-González
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  2. Jordi Grinyó
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  3. Josep-Maria Gili
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Correspondence to Pablo J. López-González.

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Supplementary Material Fig. 1

Molecular analysis by the ML method. Relationship of Chironephthya-Siphonogorgia species using Nidaria-Nephthyigorgia-Pieterfaurea as outgroup. a Analysis based in mtMutS + COI, and b Analysis based in the proposed extended barcode for octocorals (mtMutS + COI + Igr1). The trees are drawn to scale, with branch lengths measured in the number of substitutions per site. All positions containing gaps and missing data were eliminated. Support values indicate bootstrap and posterior probability, respectively. Values lower than 50 % (bootstrap) or 0.5 (PP) are not indicated. (GIF 128 kb)

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López-González, P.J., Grinyó, J. & Gili, JM. Chironephthya mediterranea n. sp. (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nidaliidae), the first species of the genus discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Biodiv 45, 667–688 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-014-0269-5

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