Family GARDINERIIDAE Stolarski, 1996

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Regional Maps

• Gardineriidae Stolarski, J. 1996. Gardineria – a scleractinian living fossil. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 41(4): 339-367.

  Type genus:

   Gardineria Vaughan, 1907.

Introduction

Among deep-sea scleractinian representatives, the volzeioids (a superfamily belonging to the suborder Caryophylliina*) with rudimentary or absent endotheca compose the family Gardineriidae. To date this family comprises only five genera, of which Gardineria and Stolarskicyathus are extant, and Rodinosmilia, Kraterostrobilos (?), and Adkinsella are exclusively fossil.

Although totalling only 9 species (Stolarski 1996; Cairns 2009), gardineriid representatives have been the theme of a peculiar debate, and due to its unusual skeleton macrostructural features, the first extant species belonging to this family was described as Haplophyllia paradoxa (= Gardineria paradoxa) and placed among the long extinct rugose corals. Before its description, Pourtalès (1868: 139) quoted: “the singular coral next to be described strikes one at first sight by its resemblance to some of the members of the group of the Rugosa”. However, following the studies on septal organisation (serial in rugoses and cyclic in scleractinians (Lindström 1877)), Duncan (1885) transferred Haplophyllia to the scleractinian family Turbinoliidae. Later, Vaughan & Wells (1943) synonymised Haplophyllia, Duncania and Gardineria, and transferred the resultant valid genus (Gardineria) to the family Flabellidae. More recently, Stolarski (1996) proposed a family rank for Gardineria (Gardineriidae), which was then followed by the description of the second extant genus Stolarskicyathus (Cairns 2004).

Studies on the architecture and microstructure of the peripheral parts of the skeleton from some Gardineria representatives have resulted in significant anatomical differences once compared with most modern scleractinians, giving to this family the living fossil status (Stolarski 1996). Supporting this hypothesis, Kitahara et al. (2010) and Stolarski et al. (submitted) examined three mitochondrial and one nuclear gene, from which the resultant phylogenies placed all sequenced gardineriids as one of the most basal scleractinian lineages known to date, predating the split between the “complex” and “robust” coral clades.

General References

Cairns, S.D. 1995. The marine fauna of New Zealand: Scleractinia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 103: 1–210, 44 pls, 22 maps

Cairns, S.D. 2004. The Azooxanthellate Scleractinia (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 56(3): 259–329

Cairns, S.D. 2009. Cold-water corals Online Appendix. www.lophelia.org/pdf/Cold-water_Corals_Online_Appendix_000.pdf

Duncan, P.M. 1885. A revision of the families and genera of the sclerodermic Zoantharia Ed. & H., or Madreporaria (M. rugosa excepted). Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 18: 1–204

Kitahara, M.V., Cairns S.D., Stolarski, J., Blair, D. & Miller, D.J. 2010. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the Scleractinia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) based on mitochondrial CO1 sequence data. PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) 5(7): e11490

Lindstrom, G. 1877. Contributions to the actinology of the Atlantic Ocean. Kungliga Svenska Ventenskapsakademiens Handlingar 14(6): 1–26

Pourtalès, L.F. de 1868. Contributions to the Fauna of the Gulf Stream at great depths (2nd series). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard 1(7): 121-141

Stolarski, J. 1996. Gardineria – a scleractinian living fossil. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 41(4): 339-367

Vaughan, T.W. & Wells, J.W. 1943. Revision of the sub-orders, families and genera of the Scleractinia. Geological Society of America Special Papers 44: 1-363

History of changes