Additions to the South African sea anemone (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) fauna, with expanded distributional ranges for known species

Abstract

Citation: Laird MC, Griffiths CL (2016) Additions to the South African sea anemone (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) fauna, with expanded distributional ranges for known species. African Invertebrates 57(1): 15-37. doi: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.57.8459 AbstractThe last monograph on South African sea anemones was published by Carlgren more than 75 years ago. Since that time, very little taxonomic research has been undertaken on this group and only seven additional species have been added to the regional fauna. In this study we document the history of taxonomic research and of species discovery for the South African anemone fauna, report on further additions to the fauna, and document expanded distributional ranges of known species. This study presents data from our own collections, as well as from the examination of historical data and museum collections, and from photographic records and specimens collected by SCUBA divers. Based on these data, two newly-discovered, but still un-described species, along with 12 new records, are added to the list of South African sea anemones. In addition, the ranges of 39 previously-known species are expanded. These new discoveries raise the total number of Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia species recognised from South African waters to 63.

Sea anemones (Actiniaria, Corallimorpharia and Zoantharia) from the Western Bering Sea (Northwest Pacific)

“…Together with previously known, mostly shallow-water species of Actiniaria (12 species), the total number of sea anemones known in this region is 92, that constitutes about 7% of the world fauna of sea anemones. Typically, in the most studied regional faunas, the number of species of sea anemones does not exceed 5% of the total number of sea anemone species worldwide, while the bathyal is usually poorly studied and the abyssal is almost completely unexplored (Laird, Griffiths, 2016). Our study presents a depth range that includes the bathyal and abyssal, so our assessment of the richness of the sea anemone fauna of the western Bering Sea seems to presents a high degree of completeness: despite the fact that no more than half of the sea anemones recorded in the photo and video were collected, underwater survey allows to estimate almost completely the diversity of megafauna.…”