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124
1892. ORTMANN. 660.
pacbychila 1879. KLUNZ1NGER 3. IS ; pI. 1/6.
Platygyra rustica 1936 •. WELLS. 104.
1967. SCHEER, 432.
1971 . LOVA & SLOBODK1N. 134.
Cae/oria subde ntata 1857. MILNE EDWARDS (& HAIME). 413.
P/alygyru subdentata 1971 , LOVA & SlOBODKIN, 124.
We have a large number of specimens from Red Sea that we place under this species. Instead of trying
to describe individual specimens we give below the major skeletal variations displayed.
Length and depth of valleys: Rarely monostomodaeal, length 1 to \0 em, straight or
sinuous. Width 5 to 7 mm , depth 5 to 8 mm. Interrupted or extending from one edge to other of the
corallum .
CoIl i n e s: Mostly acute at the top, perforated, getting thicker (2 mm) towards the base, In some
coralla the rop of collines a little thickened a nd less perforated.
S e pt a: Generally steep at the wall , only slightly exserr, o nly slightly broader below than at the top;
alternating in size; edges dentate, the last rooth the largest. Septal sides granular. Exserr part arched or
vertical, maximum exserrness l.5 mm .
Col u m e II a: Trabecular, continuous. In some cases columella not visible, the bottom of the valleys
being filled with endothecal vesicles. In many cases the columella is highly thickened and looks lamellar.
Then the collines are also thickened , obtuse at the top and little perforated, thus simulating Leploria
condition.
Material:
Gulf of Suez:
Gulf of Aqaba:
orthern R. S. :
Jerus. SLR
T. Aviv NS
Jerus. SLR
T . Aviv NS
Basel
HLM
T. Aviv
USNM
HLM
PW
EC
NS
Wa
X2:
EC
1809 (Abu Durba); 831 (Et Tur).
1904, 5888 (Et Tur) ; 8438 (Ras el Kanisa).
371, 386 (Marsa Murach); 458-1- 3 (E I Kura).
269, 292,294, 1263, E4711, 4, E55 / 548h (Eilat); 1914(MarsaMurach);
4895 (Wassit); 4941 , 4955 , 4993 , 4995 (Dahab ); 4810, 4812, 4816,
4830,4832,4871 , 4879 (Ras Atanwr).
73692 (Dahab).
462 (Eilat ).
3198 (Ras Muhammad).
7 1, 72 (Ghardaqa).
3- 8,14,20, 21 , 26, 37 , 43 (Gubal lsl.).
484 (Ras Abu Suma); 500 (Safaga Is\.); 72 ( Koseir, duplicate from
KLUNZINGER as Coeloria arabica) ; 311 , 312 (Ras Abu Hagar).
34, 40, 41 , 42 (Sanganeb R.).
33, 33a, 34, 35 , 35a, 37, 37a, 38 , 38a, 39, 39a, 92 , 119 (Wingate R.).
9- 14, 15 ,22,29, 30 (Sarso Isl.).
Central R. S.: P. Sud. Sa
HLM RM
Southern R. S.: HLM X2 :
EC 399-402 (Massawa).
Di s t r ib uti 0 n : Widely distributed from Red Sea into the Pacific as far east as Samoa and Cook IsIs.
Rem ark s: The nomenclatural history of this species is lengthy, a resume of it is given by CHEVALIER
(1975). MATIHAI (1928) in his monograph kept Coeloria daedalea and C. ia77leliina separate. WELLS
(1936: 104) stated that the name daedalea ELLIS & SOLANDER is preoccupied by FORSKAL'sMadrepora
daedalea which is Alveopora daedalea, and hence not available to Platygyra. He proposed the next available
name Meandrina rustica DANA . However, CROSSLAND (1952 : 148) argued vehemently against such
changes of nomenclature and adopted the specific name daedalea to Coeloria ruslica, from which he
separated Coeloria lamellina as the more abundant species in the Red Sea. In 1956 STEPHENSON and
WELLS merged Platygyra lamellina and daedalea rogether with TUstica , sinensis and other species and
adopted the specific name lamellina of EHRENBERG.
Recently WljSMAN-BEST ( 1972 and 1976) and VERO ,PICHO & WljSMAN-BEST (1977) followed
MATIHAI (1928) and separated again P. lamellina from P. daedalea, though CHEVALIER (1975) felt they
are one and the same with the name daedalea.
In two earlier communications the present authors (SCHEER & PILLAI 1974 and PILLAI & SCHEER
1976) followed STEPHENSON and WELLS and named the species as lamellina. But we made no attempt