International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol.6, No.16, 1
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8
1
Research Article Open Access
Particular Qualities of Identification and Taxonomy of Some Scleractinian
(Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina) Family Acroporidae Verrill, 1903
Yu.Ya. Latypov
A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol.6, No.16 doi
Received: 12 Feb, 2016
Accepted: 15 Mar, 2016
Published: 15 Mar, 2016
Copyright © 2016
Latypov, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Marine Science, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Latypov, 2016, Particular Qualities of Identification and Taxonomy of Some Scleractinian (Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina) Family Acroporidae Verrill, 1903,
International Journal of Marine Science, 6(14): 1-8 (doi
Abstract
Brief history of taxonomy and identification of one of the diverse groups of the hermatypic coral family Acroporidae.
Drawn attention to the difficulties and errors that have occurred in their taxonomy. Describes the terminology and morphological
characteristics that can be successful identification and description of corals of the family.
Keywords
Family Acroporidae; History Study; Systematics; Signs
1 Taxonomic Implication
Family Acroporidae consists of five genera –
Montipora
,
Acropora
,
Astreopora, Isopora
and
Anacropora
. The latter genus includes several
species, which at the present are known mainly on
the reefs of Australia and Philippines. One
Anacropora
species has been found on some reefs
of the Spratly Archipelago and the Indian Ocean.
Whereas corals of the first three genera, being only
3.79% of the generic structure of reef-building
scleractinian, substantially determine their species
diversity on practically all reefs of the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, and compose 39.89% of more than
1500 nominal species of the Indo-Pacific area.
Acropora
and
Montipora
have the greatest
taxonomic diversity of all scleractinian of the
Indo-Pacific area: 364 and 211 nominal species,
respectively (80-85 and 48-50 of valid species).
Acroporids are able to have all the growth forms
known for hermatypic corals. Branching and
lamellar colonies of
Montipora
and
Acropora
, and
particularly the latter ones, are able to constitute
dense populations on reef flats and reef slopes,
which can extend along reefs for many hundreds of
square meters. Being distributed everywhere and
having a leading part in reef-formation, at the same
time acroporids are the most difficult for
identification. The extremely variable growth form
of the colonies – from massive encrusting to finely
branching forms, small corallites, quite similar for
all representatives of the family, the small number
of “good” diagnostic features, permitting one to
distinguish one species from another one, result in
the fact that many species often have 5-10
synonymous names. The number of nominal
species of
Acropora
and
Montipora
is 4-5 times
greater than that of the number of valid species in
those genera. The acroporids of the Great Barrier
Reef (Australia), the Philippines, Japan, the
Maldives, Vietnam and the Red Sea have been
described and redecribed in the modern times, and
species lists of the Seychelles Islands have been
revised, but in many regions the species
composition of acroporids, as well as that of the
other scleractinian, still contains many synonyms,
or, on the contrary, is far from being complete and
contains only the main species. The ubiquity and
the great diversity of acroporids corals on the
Vietnamese reefs, more 25% of the total
Acroporidae Indo-Pacific (Latypov, 2014), allow
to consider particularities of their identification
and taxonomy.
