Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

<i>Conopora verrucosa</I> cyclosystem image from Cairns (1983).

Conopora verrucosa cyclosystem image from Cairns (1983).

<I>Conopora verrucosa</I> double chamber image from Cairns (1983).

Conopora verrucosa double chamber image from Cairns (1983).

<I>Conopora verrucosa</I> branch fragment image (photo credit N. Bax).

Conopora verrucosa branch fragment image (photo credit N. Bax).

Fig. 36 from Cairns (1983)

Fig. 36 from Cairns (1983)

Figure 2 from Lindner et al (2008). Phylogenetic relationships of stylasterid corals and multiple invasions of shallow waters.

Figure 2 from Lindner et al (2008). Phylogenetic relationships of stylasterid corals and multiple invasions of shallow waters.

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Species Conopora verrucosa (Studer, 1878)

Hydrocoral, Lace Coral

Generic Combinations

  • Conopora verrucosa (Studer, 1878).

 

Introduction

The geographic distribution of Conopora verrucosa includes the Australian Antarctic Territory in East Antarctica (Bax and Cairns, 2014). This species is found across a broad depth range (~198 - 2355 m), and the limited documentation of C. verrucosa may reflect a lack of sampling at great depths around Antarctica.

Conopora verrucosa has a distinct cyclosystem structure (Cairns, 1983b), and its cladistic placement based on genetics and morphology is discussed in Bax (2015) where the following conclusions are highlighted as important to the evolution of stylasterid corals:

Stylasterid fossils can be traced back to the late Cretaceous 65 million years ago. The oldest known stylasterid appears to be Conopora (Jell et al., 2011), and the earliest Antarctic fossil is Conopora mariae, dated to the Eocene ~ 50 million years ago (Stolarski, 1998). The Lindner et al., (2008) genetic phylogeny is composed of three distinct clades. Clade (1) contains double-chambered cyclosystemate species, including Conopora species which lack a gastrostyle, Plibothrus spp. with no observed gastrostyle (Cairns, 1983a) and Lepidopora microstylus, which in contrast to the other two genera has a rudimentary gastrostyle (Lindner et al., 2008). Clade (2) contains Stylaster species (with both cyclosystems and gastrostyles). Clade (3) contains the other stylasterid taxa (some cyclosystemate and some not). This suggests that the common ancestor to all stylasterid clades had cyclosystems. This genetic information, combined with the fossil record, indicates that the placement of Conopora as basal in genetic phylogenies in Lindner et al. (2008) and Bax (2015), is a parsimonious conclusion.

 

Distribution

Other Regions

Australian Antarctic Territory

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Hydroid and medusa stages: colonial (host(s): polychaete worm; Pedicularia sea snail).

 

General References

Bax N.N. & Cairns, S.D. 2014. Stylasteridae (Cnidaria; Hydrozoa). pp. 107 - 112 in De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H.J., Raymond, B., Udekem d'Acoz, C., Van de Putte, A.P., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huettmann, F., Post, A. & Ropert-Coudert, Y. (eds.). Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Cambridge : Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 498 pp.

Bax NN 2015. Deep Sea Stylasterid Corals in the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic and Patagonian Benthos: Biogeography, Phylogenetics, Connectivity and Conservation. PhD thesis, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. 220pp.

Cairns, S.D. 1983a. A generic revision of the Stylasterina (Coelenterata: Hydrozoa). Part 1. Description of the genera. Bulletin of Marine Science 33(2): 427-508

Cairns, S.D. 1983b. Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Stylasterina (Coelenterata: Hydrozoa). Antarctic Research Series 38: 61-164

Cairns, S.D. 1991b. The marine fauna of New Zealand: Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydroida). Wellington : New Zealand Oceanographic Institute 1-179, pls 1-77.

Cairns, S.D. 2015. Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Anthothecata) of the New Caledonian region. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (N.S.) [1993-2016] 207: 1-362 [208]

Jell J.S., Cook A.G., Jell P.A. 2011. Australian Cretaceous Cnidaria and Porifera. Alcheringa 35: 241-284

Lindner A., Cairns S.D. & Cunningham C.W. 2008. From offshore to onshore: multiple origins of shallow-water corals from deep-sea ancestors. PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) 3: 6

Stolarski J. 1998. Conopora (Stylasteridae, Hydrozoa) from the Eocene of Seymour Island. Antarctic Science 10: 487-492

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
HYDROZOA Owen, 1843 30-Jun-2017 ADDED Dr Narissa Bax