Bunga payung

Description. Colony with numerous polyps (total ~ 70). Polyps connected through stolons attached to rock. Stolons are thin and rounded (circular in cross-section, ~ 0.3 mm in diameter) and polyps are spaced apart irregularly, either adjacent to one another or spaced apart up to ~ 5 mm. Expanded polyps are ~ 2.2 - 3.0 mm in width and retract fully into calyces of ~ 1 mm wide and up to ~ 2 mm in height. Calyces do not retract into the stolon. The oral disk of the polyps is expanded into a circular membrane by fusion of proximal regions of adjacent tentacles (Figure 2 a), as is characteristic of arulids. The oral disk has eight shallow furrows that run from intertentacular margin to mouth of polyp, dividing the membrane into eight lobes. The distal two-thirds of the tentacles extend from fused margins of the oral membrane. Tentacles with 6 - 10 pairs of widely spaced pinnules are arranged in a single row on either side of rachis. Anthocodial sclerites are smooth rods, with simple tubercles at distal margin ends, 0.1 - 0.15 mm long (Figure 4 a). Calyces contain table-radiates that range 0.06 - 0.19 mm in length (Figure 4 b-d). Sclerites of the stolon are fused table-radiates forming a flat sheet (Figure 4 e). Polyps are brown coloured in life with a whitish oral disk, but yellowish white when preserved in ethanol. Zooxanthellate.

Distribution. Sepangar Island, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Etymology. From the Malaysian and Indonesian word payung, which means umbrella; denoting the shape of the oral disc of the polyps, which resemble the shape of an umbrella.

Material examined. All specimens are from Sepangar, Sepangar Island, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia (06 ° 03 ' 38.66 " N, 116 ° 04 ' 0.65 " E), 20 March 2018 and collected by YW Lau. Holotype: NSMT-Co 1679, 9 m depth. Paratype: IPMB-C 01.00017, 10 m depth.