Characters: Solitary, approximately circular, with calices up to 15 mm diameter. Walls are thick. Septa are not arranged in orders. They are all thick near the calice rim, taper and are strongly dentate. Columellae are large and spongy, deep with the calice. A paliform crown is sometimes developed.
Colour: Cream to pale brown.
Similar Species: Easily mistaken for a juvenile Lobophyllia. Otherwise it does not closely resemble any other species.
Habitat: Reef slopes.
Abundance: Unknown but possibly common.
Taxonomic Note: The type species of Sclerophyllia Klunzinger, 1879. A newly-resurrected species (Arrigoni, Berumen, Terraneo et al., 2015)), this predominantly solitary coral is difficult to identify consistently in the field as it bears strong micro-morphological similarity with several other species, notably Sclerophyllia (formerly Acanthastrea) maxima. See also Acanthophyllia deshayesiana. See Folkeson (1919), Matthai (1924), Crossland (1952) for previous use of this name.
Taxonomic References: Arrigoni, Berumen, Terraneo et al. (2014);
