Reports on the zoological collections made in Torres Straits by professor A.C. Haddon, 1888-1889. I, Actiniæ

Abstract

The following is the first instalment of an investigation on the structure and systematic relations of the Actiniae collected by one of us in Torres Straits. We decided to publish our account of the Zoanthese first, as it is a well circumscribed group and admits of independent treatment. We took this opportunity of studying the British forms, and have thus had a considerable number of forms under examination at the same time. This has given us a personal knowledge of every genus except Mammilifera, of which genus no authentic specimens exist in any museum. Our account of the British Zoantliese is simultaneously published with this as " A Revision of the British Actiniae," Part II. : The ZoanthejB (Trans. Roj^al Dublin Society, vol. iv., ser. ii.) ; and we would refer the reader to that Memoir for a general summary of the anatomy of the group, and a special account of that of the British representatives. We have also given a classification of the Zoanthese, and as far as is possible have allocated all the species described by other authors to their proper genera. It is impossible at the present time to monograph this group, as there is such a general sameness in external character that it makes it difiicult to seize on points which are of descriptive value. The present confusion in which this group lies is mainly due to this fact ; the fault is that of the animals themselves rather than that of the zoologists who have described and named them. This similarity of appearance not onlj^affects the species of a genus, but also the species of different genera. Thus it becomes a necessity for every species to be examined anatomically by means of microscopical sections, first to determine its genus, and secondly to discover accurate specific characters. Once a species is thoroughly TKANS. ROY. DUB. SOC, K.S. VOL. IV., PART Xnt. 5 E Reports on the Zoological Collections made in Torres Straits, 1888-1889. Ciivier (1798) was the first to recognise some distinction between the Zoanthese and other Actinia, but in an indefinite sort of way; he refers to " 1. Le zoanthe k cinq pdtales [Actin. diantlms) ; 2. Le zoanthe k drageons {Actin. sociata^r Lamarck (Systfeme, 1801) first divided the Actinse into the genera Actinia and Zoantha ; he says (1801, p. 363): " ii''. genre. Zoanthe, Zoantha Zoantha sociata, Act. sociata, Sol. et Ellis, Hydra sociata, Gmel." Bosc (180S, p. 261) refers to " Zoanthe, Zoantha, Lam. ; Z. ellisii; Hydra sociata ; Act sociata, S. & Ell." Cuvier, in 1817 (p. 53), speaks of Zoantlms sociatus. In Deshayes and Milne-Edwards' revised and augmented edition of Lamarck's Hist, des anim. sans vert. (1836, 2nd ed., p. 77), three species are acknowledged: "Zoanthe (Zoantha).-1. Zoantha ellisii, Bosc {^Act. sociata, etc.); 2. Zoantha solanderi, Les. ; 3. Zoantha hertholetii, Ehr." Dana is the only later author who adheres to Zoantha instead of Zoauthus. According to the generally accepted rules of zoological nomenclature the Greek av6o<; would have to be written anthiis, it being agreed that, "in writing zoological ...

Zoanthids (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) from the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait, Australia: systematics, evolution and a key to species

“…Overall bootstrap support for the phylogeny is low, however the tree is well supported by the available morphological data which is discussed in more detail later. The tree confirms the monophyly of the Palythoa/Protopalythoa group and their close relationship with Sphenopus as proposed by Haddon and Shackleton (1891). Zoanthus appears to be paraphyletic.…”

“…All Zoanthus samples except Z. vietnamensis are considered to be members of Z. coppingeri. Zoanthus coppingeri could potentially include several nominate species from Australia which were not identified in this study (Z. jukesii Haddon and Shackleton, 1891, Z. macgillivrayi H. & S., 1891, Z. annae Carlgren 1937, Z. mantoni Carlgren 1937, Z. fraseri Carlgren 1937 but which are described from the same localities and which are indistinguishable in their external appearance from Z. coppingeri. These species were defined by Carlgren (1937) on the basis of differences in the structure and distribution of nematocysts.…”

“…Z. form 3) at seven loci (ENO*, LGG-2*,¸P*, LT-1*,¸¹-2*, MDH-1*, MDH-2*) and D is correspondingly high ('1.4 in all comparisons of Z. vietnamensis with other Zoanthus forms). Our samples are considered to represent two species, identified as Z. coppingeri Haddon andShackleton, 1891 andZ. vietnamensis Pax andMuller, 1957.…”

“…Specimens from each locality were initially assigned to one of ten morphological or ecological groups (''forms'') in four genera, for a total of 45 'samples' (combinations of form and locality). For some forms it was possible to assign names based on (Burnett et al 1994;Burnett 1995b;Burnett et al 1995 Haddon and Shackleton, 1891, in the family Parazoanthidae, were collected from Bowden Reef for use as a genetic outgroup in phylogenetic analyses. Fourteen allozyme loci coding for eleven different enzymes were screened using starch and cellulose acetate gels.…”

“…Sixty species of Zoanthidae are described from the central Indo-west Pacific (Walsh and Bowers 1971) but the true number is unknown. At least 25 are described or reported from the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait regions of northeast Australia (Hertwig 1882(Hertwig , 1888Haddon and Shackleton 1891;Saville-Kent 1893;Wilsmore 1909;Carlgren 1937;Ryland and Muirhead 1993). From their descriptions many of these species appear to be identical, or are distinguished on the basis of characters more recently shown to have no taxonomic significance (Muirhead 1989).…”