Species Composition And Faunastic Characteristics Of The Order Actiniaria (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) In Chinese Waters

Sea anemones (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria) are one of the most primitivemetazoans, inhabiting in all depths from intertidal zones to abyss and all marineenvironments including tropical waters, bipolar areas, hydrothermal vents and coldseeps. Currently, the order Actiniaria comprises more than1100valid species belongingto50families and about400genera. As few taxonomic characters deriving from relativesimple structures and great variations in morphorlogy, identification and classificationof actiniarians are very difficult. Up to nowdays, few taxonomy reserches were carriedout in China, the knowledge on Chinese actiniarians is scant.The study gathers two suborders22families45genera73actiniarian species ofChinese waters; based on about1000entities of historical sea anemone specimensdeposited in the Marine Biology Museusm, Chinese Academy of Sciences (MBM, CAS)and new collections from China,51species belonging to18families and31generawere described. Among them, one new genus―Paroctineon gen. nov.―was established;seven new species were discovered: Aulactinia sinensis Li&Liu,2012; Phytocoetessinensis Li, Liu&Xu,2013; Phlyctenanthus chinensis sp. nov.; Andvakia nanhaiensissp. nov.; Stephensonactis cylindrica sp. nov.; Paroctineon elongatum gen. nov., sp. nov.and Paroctineon qingdaoense gen. nov., sp. nov.Eight species were newly recorded form China: Synhalcurias elegans (Wassilieff,1908); Anthopleura handi Dunn,1978; Anthopleura xanthogrammica (Brandt,1835);Boloceropsis cf. platei McMurrich,1904; Epiactis japonica (Verrill,1869);Neocondylactis singaporensis England,1987; Telmatactis clavata (Stimpson,1855) andNemanthus nitidus (Wassilieff,1908).Furthermore, the study made a substantial revision on the actinarian speciesreported in China. The dissertation cleared25invalid names, verified34actiniarianspecies recorded in the monograph “Fauna Sinica. Coelenterata: Actiniaria, Ceriantharia,Zoanthidea” by Pei (1998). In addition, the following7species included in themonograph were proved to be misidentifications: Telmatactis clavata (Stimpson,1855);Anthopleura xanthogrammica (Brandt,1835); Metridium huanghaiensis Pei,1998; Metridium sinensis Pei,1998; Calliactis conchicola Parry,1952; Paracalliactis roseaHand,1975and Calliactis polypores Pei,1996. Moreover, the mistakenly used familyname Haliactiidae Carlgren,1949has been modified to Halcampactinidae Carlgren,1921. The species Anthopleura pacifica Uchida,1938, treated as a homonym ofAnthopleura nigrescens (Verrill,1928), is deemed an indepedant species.Based on the taxonomic researches and compilation of collection information, thestudy made clear the definite geographic distribution of the abundant sea anemones inChinese waters, such as Cancrisocia expansa Stimpson,1855; Urticina grebelnyiSanamyan&Sanamyan,2006; Calliactis japonica Carlgren,1928; and Metridiumsensile fimbriatum (Verrill,1865) and so on. Furthermore, the dissertation analyses thespecies composition of sea anemones in the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea), theEast China Sea and the South China Sea, and explaines their faunastic characteristics.