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The soft coral Alcyonium aurantiacum, known as "Dead man's fingers", was one of the first corals to be scientifically described during the Astrolabe expeditions in New Zealand.
Typical of the time, the original description by Quoy & Gaimard is vague and based largely on characteristics that have little diagnostic value by today's standards. The only other taxonomic treatment of Alcyonium aurantiacum is the description by Benham (1928), which unfortunately further obscures the diversity of New Zealand coastal soft corals by assigning both lobate and encrusting specimens to this coral.
Consequently, several morphologically distinct forms were identified as possibly belonging to Alcyonium aurantiacum, despite being highly variable in color, colony shape, and sclerite morphology.
Dr. Kessel took on this challenge and his work resulted in an initial description of a whopping 10 new species, all previously assigned to Alcyonium aurantiacum.
One of these new species is the soft coral Kotatea lobata.
The colonies of Kotatea lobata are strongly lobed and orange with white polyps. The tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like sclerites.
Polyp neck contains few bulbous to warty, rod-like forms concentrated at the base. Polyp mounds contain short, warty, rod-like and spindle-like forms and spiny clubs.
Lobe surface contains similar spiny clubs, larger spindle-shaped forms, and spurs.
The basal surface contains similar rays as well as broad spindles, rod-like forms, clubs, and some leaf-like spheroids.
The interior of the lobes and base contains distinct, highly branched, irregular antler-like and spindle-like forms.
Specimens of Kotatea lobata have been collected around the northern North Island of New Zealand, from Houhora Harbour to the Mercury Islands on the east coast, and from Muriwai to Manukau Harbour on the west coast between the intertidal zone and depths of ~ 30 m.
Kotatea lobata is also characterized by occasionally being exposed at low tide, usually under boulders or overhangs, many of the specimens have been collected under boulders and on cliff faces.
The number of lobes can vary greatly from specimen to specimen. The size of the colony and the thickness of the lobes are also highly dependent on the expansion stage of the colony. The shrunken specimens examined were up to 8 cm in size.
In preserved specimens, the color ranges from light to dark orange or even red (corresponding to the coloration of living specimens), and occasionally it is dull beige but this is probably due to the initial fixation in formalin.
When the polyps are retracted in contracted colonies, the polyp mounds are often clearly visible and may give Kotatea lobata a distinct scaly appearance.
Etymology
The species name is composed of the Latin word lobata meaning "lobed".
Etymology:
Kotatea is the Māori word for red soft coral and is used as a generic name to honor their original te reo (Māori language) names. Ko refers to a distant point in time, while tatea means offspring. In addition, kota (hardened shell) refers to the substrate on which some colonies grow, while tea (white) refers to the polyps that cling together to this foundation, illustrating the meaning of whānau (family), unity, and security. Ngāti Kurī deliberated on the appropriateness of this name and provided the following kōrero (narrative): "Kotatea is all about whānau (family).
Literature reference:
Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa, Gardner, Jonathan P.A. (2022):
Dead man's fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833.
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: doi.org, URL: zoobank.org
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Literature reference:
Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa, Gardner, Jonathan P.A. (2022):
Dead man's fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.837.1923, URL: http://zoobank.org/7cbac71f-ff75-411c-9ce9-aa633e16438e
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Typical of the time, the original description by Quoy & Gaimard is vague and based largely on characteristics that have little diagnostic value by today's standards. The only other taxonomic treatment of Alcyonium aurantiacum is the description by Benham (1928), which unfortunately further obscures the diversity of New Zealand coastal soft corals by assigning both lobate and encrusting specimens to this coral.
Consequently, several morphologically distinct forms were identified as possibly belonging to Alcyonium aurantiacum, despite being highly variable in color, colony shape, and sclerite morphology.
Dr. Kessel took on this challenge and his work resulted in an initial description of a whopping 10 new species, all previously assigned to Alcyonium aurantiacum.
One of these new species is the soft coral Kotatea lobata.
The colonies of Kotatea lobata are strongly lobed and orange with white polyps. The tentacles contain irregular, warty, scale-like sclerites.
Polyp neck contains few bulbous to warty, rod-like forms concentrated at the base. Polyp mounds contain short, warty, rod-like and spindle-like forms and spiny clubs.
Lobe surface contains similar spiny clubs, larger spindle-shaped forms, and spurs.
The basal surface contains similar rays as well as broad spindles, rod-like forms, clubs, and some leaf-like spheroids.
The interior of the lobes and base contains distinct, highly branched, irregular antler-like and spindle-like forms.
Specimens of Kotatea lobata have been collected around the northern North Island of New Zealand, from Houhora Harbour to the Mercury Islands on the east coast, and from Muriwai to Manukau Harbour on the west coast between the intertidal zone and depths of ~ 30 m.
Kotatea lobata is also characterized by occasionally being exposed at low tide, usually under boulders or overhangs, many of the specimens have been collected under boulders and on cliff faces.
The number of lobes can vary greatly from specimen to specimen. The size of the colony and the thickness of the lobes are also highly dependent on the expansion stage of the colony. The shrunken specimens examined were up to 8 cm in size.
In preserved specimens, the color ranges from light to dark orange or even red (corresponding to the coloration of living specimens), and occasionally it is dull beige but this is probably due to the initial fixation in formalin.
When the polyps are retracted in contracted colonies, the polyp mounds are often clearly visible and may give Kotatea lobata a distinct scaly appearance.
Etymology
The species name is composed of the Latin word lobata meaning "lobed".
Etymology:
Kotatea is the Māori word for red soft coral and is used as a generic name to honor their original te reo (Māori language) names. Ko refers to a distant point in time, while tatea means offspring. In addition, kota (hardened shell) refers to the substrate on which some colonies grow, while tea (white) refers to the polyps that cling together to this foundation, illustrating the meaning of whānau (family), unity, and security. Ngāti Kurī deliberated on the appropriateness of this name and provided the following kōrero (narrative): "Kotatea is all about whānau (family).
Literature reference:
Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa, Gardner, Jonathan P.A. (2022):
Dead man's fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833.
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: doi.org, URL: zoobank.org
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Literature reference:
Kessel, Gustav M., Alderslade, Philip, Bilewitch, Jaret P., Schnabel, Kareen E., Norman, Jerry, Potts, Romana Tekaharoa, Gardner, Jonathan P.A. (2022):
Dead man's fingers point to new taxa: two new genera of New Zealand soft corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) and a revision of Alcyonium aurantiacum Quoy & Gaimard, 1833
European Journal of Taxonomy 837: 1-85, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.837.1923, URL: http://zoobank.org/7cbac71f-ff75-411c-9ce9-aa633e16438e
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
