Taxon name selected

Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status

Valid species

Target Taxon

Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Selected taxon name information

Authority reference(s):

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Regnum Animale. Holmiae, Editio Decima, Reformata. 824pp. (For species details see p. 791)

Taxonomic note: A species complex. See discussion in Overview of coral taxonomy. There are significant differences between this species in the far eastern Pacific and elsewhere in its recorded range. Paz-García, Aldana-Moreno, Cabral-Tena et al. (2015) show that environmental conditions can induce the distinctive morphology of the nominal species Pocillopora inflata from otherwise normal P. damicornis. This has not been observed elsewhere in the distribution of P. damicornis

Taxonomic reference(s):

Veron, J.E.N. and Pichon, M. (1976). Scleractinia of eastern Australia. Part I. Families Thamnasteriidae, Astrocoeniidae, Pocilloporidae. (Townsville, Australia: Australian Institute of Marine Science), 1:1-86.

Veron, J.E.N. (2000a). Corals of the World. Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science. Volumes 1-3. 1410pp.

Schmidt-Roach, S., Lundgren, P., Miller, K.J., Gerlach, G., Noreen, A.M. and Andreakis, N. (2013). Assessing hidden species diversity in the coral Pocillopora damicornis from Eastern Australia. Coral Reefs 32(1):161-172. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-012-0959-z.

Schmidt-Roach, S., Miller, K.J., Lundgren, P. and Andreakis, N. (2014). With eyes wide open: a revision of species within and closely related to the Pocillopora damicornis species complex (Scleractinia; Pocilloporidae) using morphology and genetics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170(1):1-33.

Chávez-Romo, H.E., Correa-Sandoval, F., Paz-García, D.A., Reyes-Bonilla, H., López-Pérez, R.A., Medina-Rosas, P. and Hernández-Cortés, M.P. (2008). Genetic structure of the scleractinian coral, Pocillopora damicornis, from the Mexican Pacific, in: Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium), 1:429-433.

Target taxon name information