Leiopathes

Diagnosis. Corallum irregularly sympodially branched but not pinnulate; branching multidirectional or flabellate. Branchlets arranged irregularly, loosely bilateral or uniserial, usually bent to some degree. Spines small, simple with smooth surface; triangular, conical or blister-shaped, often poorly developed or absent on older parts of the corallum. Polyps with 12 mesenteries; round with well-developed tentacles, arranged in a single row at terminal branchelets. Adjacent polyps often unequal.

Remarks. Up to eleven species have been recognized in the genus Leiopathes (Fautin 2011). An exhaustive historical account and synonymy of the genus were presented by Opresko (1998) and Opresko and Baron-Szabo (2001). In both accounts Antipathes valdiviae Pax, 1915 was not considered. However, characteristic colony form as well as the form and distribution of spines and the form and arrangement of polyps in A. valdiviae are typical for the genus Leiopathes (Fig. 1). Species assigned to Leiopathes. I assign eight species to this genus: A. glaberrima Esper, 1792, L. expansa Johnson, 1899, L. grimaldii Roule, 1902, A. valdiviae Pax, 1915, L. acanthophora Opresko, 1998, L. bullosa Opresko, 1998, L. secunda Opresko, 1998, and L. montana n. sp.

Distribution. Four species of this genus are known from the North Atlantic (L. glaberrima, L. expansa, L. grimaldii and L. montana), and four species are known from the Indian Ocean (L. valdiviae, L. acanthophora, L. bullosa and L. secunda). The species determined as L. glaberrima has been reported from Hawaii (Grigg & Opresko 1977; Roark et al. 2009).

Type species. Antipathes glaberrima Esper, 1792.