Watling, L.; France, S.C. (2021). Toward a revision of the bamboo corals: Part 2, Untangling the genus Lepidisis (Octocorallia: Isididae). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 62(2): 97-110.
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Watling, L.; France, S.C.
2021
Toward a revision of the bamboo corals: Part 2, Untangling the genus Lepidisis (Octocorallia: Isididae)
Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History
62(2): 97-110
Publication
Available for editors
The genus Lepidisis was established by Verrill in 1883 for three species collected from the continental
slope in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Over the intervening years, several species were
assigned to this genus using conflicting characters taken from Verrill’s original description. Using
what remains of Verrill’s syntype specimens and a new specimen collected from off of the coast of
the New England region, USA, we show that Verrill made a serious mistake in his description of
the type species, and that mistake has caused some of the confusion surrounding this genus. We
redescribe the type species, then use that description to evaluate the other species currently assigned
to the genus.
