The true identity of Siderastrea glynni Budd & Guzmán, 1994, a highly endangered eastern Pacific scleractinian coral

Abstract

Siderastrea glynni Budd & Guzmán, 1994 was erroneously erected from live colonies of S. siderea (Ellis & Solander, 1768) unintentionally transferred from the Caribbean to the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panamá.These corals had been used in experiments conducted in the early 1980s by KH Kleemann at Urabá Island, Taboga Islands, Gulf of Panamá, at the same site of the subsequent S. glynni discovery. Here, we offer evidence that live fragments deposited at Urabá Island in 1982 are the same found by Guzmán in 1992, and were inadvertently introduced from colonies of Caribbean S. siderea that were presumed to be dead. This morphological study builds on and supports recent genetic analyses of the S. glynni holobiont. In light of these findings, S. glynni should be regarded as a subjective junior synonym of S. siderea.

Wave-swept coralliths of Saba Bank, Dutch Caribbean

“…5c, d). Siderastrea radians and S. siderea were previously known to form coralliths (Kissling 1973; Schuhmacher 1976; Lewis 1989; Sorauf and Harries 2009) as well as their congeners S. stellata Verrill, 1868 in Brazil (Lima and Coutinho 2016), S. savignyana Milne Edwards and Haime, 1850 in Madagascar, identified as S. radians by Pichon (1974), and S. glynni Budd and Guzmán, 1994 in the eastern Pacific (Budd and Guzman 1994), which turned out to be a S. siderea population introduced from the Atlantic (Glynn et al 2016). Specimens of the massive scleractinian P. astreoides in Yucután, Mexico, were observed as epibionts on the axis of gorgonians, which eventually broke off, and in this way also became free living (Rodríguez-Martínez and Jordán-Dahlgren 1999).…”

A review of the diversity and impact of invasive non-native species in tropical marine ecosystems

“…Similarly, Siderastrea siderea was introduced into Pacific Panama as five skeleton blocks thought to be dead and used in an experiment, but then discovered to be living and named Siderastrea glynni by Budd and Guzma'n (1994). All known colonies were collected and are kept in aquaria (Glynn et al 2016).…”

Correction to: Incongruence between life-history traits and conservation status in reef corals

“…Following the online publication of Bridge et al 2020 it was brought to our attention by Bert Hoeksema that the Critically Endangered species, Siderastrea glynni Budd & Guzman 1994, had recently been synonymised as S. siderea, Ellis & Solander 1786 (Glynn et al 2016). Therefore, we have revised the second sentence of the second paragraph of the Results to read ''The three species listed as critically endangered are split among two families: Acroporidae and Poritidae.''…”

“…These examples highlight the necessity for researchers and managers to stay abreast of the many recent changes to coral taxonomy by regular visits to sites such as the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS, http://www.marinespecies.org/) (Hoeksema and Cairns 2020). In addition, the transplantation of S. siderea from the Atlantic to the eastern Pacific that resulted in the incorrect description of a new species (Glynn et al 2016) highlights the potential pitfalls of moving organisms outside of their native geographical range.…”