Coenothecalia
Heliopora coerulea in a private aquarium
The Helioporacea are an order of anemones ( Anthozoa ) from the subclass of the Octocorallia, which is now represented by only five species in modern seas.
Features
In contrast to all other octocorals the Helioporacea produce as are not closely related stony corals a massive aragonite skeleton. Otherwise, they share the common in the subclass Octocorallia polyp anatomy and the mandatory eight feathery tentacles.
System
The order includes only two families with one genus and five species.
- Order Helioporacea Bock, 1938 Family Helioporidae Moseley, 1876 Genus Heliopora de Blainville, 1830 Blue Coral ( Heliopora coerulea ( Pallas, 1776) )
- Pseudopolytremacis hanagaensis Kusmitschewa, 1975, Lower Cretaceous, Armenia
- Genus Epiphaxum Lonsdale, 1850 ( syn. Lithotelesto Bayer & Muzik, 1977) † Epiphaxum auloporoides ( Lonsdale, 1850) ( Turonian, Campanian, Maastrichtian, Danian, various localities in Europe)
- Epiphaxum breve Bayer, 1992, Gulf of Mexico, Barbados
- Epiphaxum micropora ( Bayer & Muzik, 1977), Barbados
- Epiphaxum septiferum Bayer, 1992, Madagascar
- † Epiphaxum arbuscula Lozouet & Molodtsova, 2008 ( Priabonium, Chattian and Burdigalium, south-west France)
Phylogeny
The systematic position of the Helioporacea to the other octocorals is controversial. Because of their uniqueness, the group is led in the rank of order. In a cladistic analysis of octocorals was determined Heliopora coerulea as a sister species of a clade from the sea pens ( Pennatulacea ) and the Gorgonienfamilie Ellisellidae. The clade formed by these three taxa is the sister group of the Calcaxonia, a subordination gorgonienähnlicher corals.