Characters: Colonies form extensive flat digitate clumps or thickets composed of branchlets of similar length and shape. Axial corallites are small. Radial corallites are irregular in length and are not clearly in rows down branchlet sides. They are tubular, the longer corallites being very elongate giving colonies a spiky appearance.
Colour: White to pale brown.
Similar Species: Acropora microclados. See also A. polystoma which has exsert axial corallites giving branchlets pointed tips, and radial corallites arranged in rows down branchlet sides, and A. lamarcki which has much shorter branchlets.
Habitat: Upper reef slopes.
Abundance: Sometimes common.
Taxonomic Note: Distinct species. Wallace (1999) designated a lectotype at the NMW, and considered this species to be a junior synonym of Acropora polystoma. However, the original description of von Marenzeller (1906) and study of co-occurring corals of both species in the Red Sea show that these species are not synonymous.
Taxonomic References: Veron (2000a);
