Redescriptions of Five Species of Japanese Dendronephthya (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) Based on Type Material Collected by Doderlein in 1879-81

Abstract

Five species of the soft-coral genus Dendronephthya from Japanese waters are redescribed based on the type specimens deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern: D. doederleini Kukenthal, 1905, D. punicea (Studer, 1888), D. flabellifera (Studer, 1888), D. pumilio (Studer, 1888), and D. rigida (Studer, 1888). These specimens were collected by the German zoologist Ludwig Doderlein between 1879 and 1881 during his stay in Japan. Several other specimens ascribed to these species by later authors and deposited in natural history museums in Europe and the U.S.A. were also examined in the present study; some of those are considered to have been misidentified.