Characters: Colonies are plate-like, with robust horizontal flat radiating branches. Branches may be highly fused towards the colony centre or may form tiers of dissected plates. Axial corallites are distinctive and may form rows along colony margins. Radial corallites are commonly of two sizes, the larger being tubular, the smaller being pocket-shaped and at the base of larger corallites.
Colour: Grey-brown with white margins.
Similar Species: Acropora downingi, also A. orbicularis, which has fused branches with upturned ends and A. clathrata, which has finer branches which are less fused. See also A. sukarnoi and A. abrotanoides.
Habitat: Shallow reef environments, especially where exposed to strong currents.
Abundance: Common in Indonesia.
Taxonomic Note: A little known species, Acropora tutuilensis was considered a valid species by Veron (2000a), and despite uncertainty surrounding the type, is retained here on the basis of both the description of Hoffmeister (1925) and original fieldwork. It was considered a junior synonym of Acropora abrotanoides by Wallace (1999), and skeletal details of small samples of these species are very similar, making them difficult to separate in collections. However, these species are readily separated in situ by their growth form, A. tutuliensis forming horizontal plates composed of long flattened branches, A. abrotanoides usually forming upright cylindrical branches.
Taxonomic References: Veron (2000a);
