Toward a revision of the bamboo corals: Part 1, species in the Muricellisidinae (Octocorallia: Isididae)

Abstract

The subfamily Muricellisidinae was erected by Kükenthal in 1915 and placed in the family Isididae in order to accommodate an unusual species collected in Sagami Bay, Japan. In 1931, Thomson and Dean added a second species collected in Indonesia during the Siboga Expedition. The holotypes of both species have been re-examined. Muricellisis echinata was found to be an anthothelid living on the axis of a keratoisid bamboo coral and M. cervicornis is a melithaeid. Both species are redescribed.