Characters: Colonies are encrusting, submassive, form columns, or are laminar. The surface is uniformly covered with large rounded verrucae. Corallites are immersed between the verrucae.
Colour: Blue or brown, uniform or mottled. Bright blue (which may photograph purple) or green tentacles are sometimes extended during the day.
Similar Species: Montipora danae, which has smaller, less regular verrucae and smaller corallites. See also M. palawanensis which has wider, low verrucae, and M. verruculosus which has smaller corallites and verrucae aligned at colony margins.
Habitat: Upper reef slopes and lagoons.
Abundance: Sometimes common.
Taxonomic Note: The questionable type species of Montipora de Blainville, 1830 by implied subsequent designation of Milne Edwards and Haime (1849d) (p. 259 as Montipora verrucosa Quoy and Gaimard, 1833). Milne Edwards and Haime (1851b) later separated this nominal species from Lamarck's (p. 55 Porites verrucosa). According to Vaughan and Wells (1943) Porites (= Montipora) verrucosa Lamarck, 1816 is Montipora foveolata (Dana, 1848), but we have not seen a reason for this. The name M. quoyi has not been used since and is not recognised here; however, it remains arguably a candidate for type species of the genus Montipora.
Taxonomic References: Veron and Wallace (1984); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Sheppard and Sheppard (1991); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Pillay, Terashima, Venkatasami et al. (2002); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
