Montastraea

Blainville, 1830, p. 339

Type Species

Astrea guettardi Defrance, 1826, p. 379; Subsequent Designation Lang and Smith, 1935, p. 554

Type Specimen: Unknown; MNHN R05933; Verified; Dry Preserved

Type Locality: not indicated by Guettard 1770, see Defrance 1826 (Miocene)

The type specimen of Defrance (figured in Guettard 1770, pl. 28, fig. 2-4) is lost. The specimen illustrated here is a hypotype, which was figured in Michelin 1842, p. 58, pl. 12, fig. 3 (and also in Chevalier 1962, p. 188, pl. 9, fig. 1). It is from the Miocene of Turin, Italy. Vaughan and Wells (1943) indicate the type locality is Dax (Landes) in France, which is also Miocene; however this has not been verified.

Classification

• Family: Montastraeidae Yabe and Sugiyama, 1941, p. 72

Synonyms

• Actinocoenia Orbigny, 1849, vol. II, p.207
• Aquitanastraea Chevalier, 1954, p. 139
• Heliastreopsis Chevalier, 1954, p. 145
• Montastrea Vaughan and Wells, 1943, p. 173
• Phyllocaeniopsis Chevalier, 1954, p. 113
• Phyllocoenia Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848, p. 469

Diagnosis

Colonial, with extracalicular budding only. Corallites monomorphic and discrete (1–3 centers); monticules absent. Coenosteum costate, moderate amount (< corallite diameter). Calice width medium (4–15 mm), with medium relief (3–6 mm). Costosepta not confluent. Septa in ≥ 4 cycles (≥ 48 septa; including very short free septa). Free septa regular. Septa spaced > 11 septa per 5 mm. Costosepta unequal in relative thickness. Columellae trabecular and spongy (> 3 threads), ≥ 1/4 of calice width. Paliform (uniaxial) lobes absent. Epitheca well developed and endotheca low-moderate (tabular). Tooth base at mid-calice elliptical-perpendicular. Tooth tip at mid-calice regular (pointed). Tooth height medium (0.3–0.6 mm) and tooth spacing medium (0.3–1 mm), with > 6 teeth per septum. Granules scattered on septal face; weak (rounded). Interarea smooth. Walls formed by partial septotheca; abortive septa weak. Thickening deposits fibrous. Costa center clusters strong; 0.3–0.6 mm between clusters; medial lines absent. Septum center clusters weak; 0.3–0.5 mm between clusters; medial lines absent. Transverse crosses absent. Columella centers clustered.

Description

'En masses épaisses, composées de cellules tubuleuses assez serrées pour être polygonales, à bords non saillans, à cavité assez profonde, garnie de lamelles nombreuses, remontant le long d'une axe solide plus ou moins saillant.' (de Blainville, 1830: 339)

Comparisons

Montastraea can be distinguished from Orbicella, which co-occur in the Caribbean, in having larger (4–15 mm) and deeper (3–6 mm) calices, more septa (≥ 48), spongy columellae, larger and more widely-spaced septal teeth (0.3–0.6 mm high, 0.3–1 mm apart) with elliptical-perpendicular bases and regular (pointed) tips, weak (rounded) granules, presence of weak abortive septa, strong costa center clusters and absence of medial lines.

Remarks

Montastraea de Blainville, 1830: 339 was initially described as a subgenus of Astrea consisting solely of five fossil species. This name never caught on, partly due to its subgenus status, but also because of its association with the more commonly-used name Heliastraea Milne Edwards and Haime, 1857, vol. 2: 456. Forty-five species of both modern and fossil corals were attributed to Heliastraea, including the type Madrepora astroites Forskål, 1775: 133 (= Astrea forskaliana Milne Edwards and Haime, 1849, vol. 12: 100) as well as M. cavernosa Esper, 1795: 18, pl. 37: figs 1, 2 (= M. cavernosa Linnaeus, 1767: 1276). Astrea guettardi Defrance, 1826: 379 is one of the species originally assigned to Montastraea, but it was only chosen as 'genolectotype' more than a century later by Lang and Smith (1935) and Wells (1936). The authors elevated this taxon to genus, and continued its restriction to fossil corals albeit spanning Cenozoic to Paleozoic. Shortly after, Vaughan and Wells, 1943: 173 redefined the genus and included as synonyms Heliastraea and Orbicella among several fossil genera, effectively incorporating the Recent Atlantic (Madrepora cavernosa and Orbicella) and Red Sea (Astrea forskaliana) within its range, although the latter was not explicitly stated. Note that an 'a' was omitted from the genus name in the process, a practice that has propagated till today (Veron, 2000, vol. 3: 212; but see Chevalier, 1971: 278; Budd et al., 2012). Wells, 1956: F404 followed a similar treatment, but excluded Heliastraea as a synonym, thus restricting the living Montastraea to the Atlantic. Subsequent workers expanded on the definition of this genus, characterizing it mainly with the trait of extracalicular budding, and consequently incorporated Indo-Pacific species such as Astrea curta Dana, 1846: 209, Astrea annuligera Milne Edwards and Haime, 1849, vol. 12: 103, Phymastrea valenciennesi Milne Edwards and Haime, 1849, vol. 12: 124 and Montastraea magnistellata Chevalier, 1971: 293 (Chevalier, 1971; Veron et al., 1977; Wijsman-Best, 1977; Veron, 1986; Veron, 2000). It is also clear that Heliastraea is a synonym of Echinopora instead of Montastraea because its type Astrea forskaliana (holotype: MNHN IK-2010-406) undoubtedly belongs in Echinopora (Wijsman-Best, 1980; Veron, 2000), even against the broader definition of Montastraea. This genus is a challenge to define, and it has been argued that confusion with Plesiastrea Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848, vol. 27, p. 494 is causing this taxonomic uncertainty (Veron et al., 1977). Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have shown that the problem is far worse than previously thought. Fukami et al. (2008) and Kitahara et al. (2010) initially showed that Montastrea (sensu Veron, 2000) is polyphyletic and present in at least three separate clades, but more extensive samplings of the group placed it in up to six distinct lineages (Huang et al., 2011; Arrigoni et al., 2012). All species examined to date, with the exception of Madrepora cavernosa Linnaeus, 1767: 1276 (clade XVI) and Montastrea multipunctata Hodgson, 1985: 284 (clade XVIII, XIX or XX; Lobophylliidae), are nested within Merulinidae and have been dealt with above. Montastraeidae is restricted to Montastraea cavernosa on the basis of molecular data that place it in one of the deepest branching lineages of clades XV to XXI (Budd et al., 2012), either sister to Merulinidae + Lobophylliidae + Mussidae (Fukami et al., 2008), or to Diploastraeidae (Huang et al., 2011; Arrigoni et al., 2012). 'Montastrea' multipunctata has been placed outside of the Merulinidae clade based on molecular and morphological data (Huang et al., 2011; Arrigoni et al., 2014). It is in close alliance with Lobophylliidae species, although the precise relationship is unknown. There is however little evidence to suggest that it has any affinity to Montastraea cavernosa. Here, we place it in the family Lobophylliidae Dai and Horng, 2009: 59 that awaits detailed taxonomic revision. Montastraea is distributed on reefs of the Atlantic, specifically in the Caribbean, Brazil and West Africa.

Distribution

• Western Europe; Late Cretaceous
• Southern Europe; Late Cretaceous
• Eastern Europe; Late Cretaceous
• South Asia; Late Cretaceous
• East Asia; Late Cretaceous
• North America; Late Cretaceous
• Central America; Late Cretaceous
• Caribbean; Late Cretaceous
• West Asia; Late Cretaceous
• Southern Europe; Paleocene
• North Africa; Paleocene
• Western Europe; Eocene
• Southern Europe; Eocene
• Eastern Europe; Eocene
• Central America; Eocene
• Caribbean; Eocene
• Southeast Asia; Eocene
• Southeast Asia; Oligocene - Miocene
• Western Europe; Oligocene
• Southern Europe; Oligocene
• North Africa; Oligocene
• Subsaharan Africa; Oligocene
• South Asia; Oligocene
• North America; Oligocene
• Central America; Oligocene
• Caribbean; Oligocene
• South America; Oligocene
• West Asia; Oligocene
• Caribbean, Southeast Asia; Miocene - Pliocene
• Western Europe; Miocene
• Southern Europe; Miocene
• Eastern Europe; Miocene
• North Africa; Miocene
• South Asia; Miocene
• East Asia; Miocene
• Australasia; Miocene
• Micronesia; Miocene
• Polynesia; Miocene
• North America; Miocene
• Central America; Miocene
• Caribbean; Miocene
• South America; Miocene
• West Asia; Miocene
• Southeast Asia; Miocene
• Central America, Caribbean, Southeast Asia; Pliocene - Pleistocene
• East Asia; Pliocene
• North America; Pliocene
• Central America; Pliocene
• Caribbean; Pliocene
• Southeast Asia; Pliocene
• East Asia; Pleistocene - Holocene
• North Africa; Pleistocene
• Subsaharan Africa; Pleistocene
• South Asia; Pleistocene
• East Asia; Pleistocene
• Australasia; Pleistocene
• Melanesia; Pleistocene
• Polynesia; Pleistocene
• North America; Pleistocene
• Central America; Pleistocene
• Caribbean; Pleistocene
• South America; Pleistocene
• Western Atlantic; Recent
• Eastern Atlantic; Recent
• East Asia; Holocene
• Micronesia; Holocene
• Polynesia; Holocene
• North America; Holocene
• Central America; Holocene
• Caribbean; Holocene

Contains

• Athecastraea Chevalier, 1962, p.181

This page has been in preparation since 20-Jul-2010 03:44

This version was contributed by Danwei Huang on 05-Feb-2014 18:12.

Page authors are: Ann Budd Danwei Huang. Please contact the editor if you would like to contribute to the diagnosis of this taxon.

The editor is: Ann Budd