Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) cornu Moseley 1880

Balanophyllia cornu Moseley, 1881

Balanophyllia cornu Moseley, 1881:192–193, pl. 12: figs. 11–15.

?Balanophyllia cf. hawaiiensis.—Eguchi, 1934:368.—Yabe and Eguchi, 1942b:142, pl. 12: fig. 20.

? Balanophyllia ponderosa.—Eguchi, 1968:C54 [in part: pl. C12: figs. 15–17].

DESCRIPTION (based on specimen from Formosa Strait, CAS 74991).—Corallum trochoid: 24.0 × 18.6 mm in calicular diameter and 34 mm in height, with a slender pedicel 4.5 mm in diameter (only 18% of GCD). Corallum regularly curved. Costae variable in width, alternating between 0.3 and 0.6 mm; intercostal striae narrow, about 0.05 mm wide. Costae flat and very finely granular. Synapticulotheca porous and white, the edge zone extending only 6–9 mm from calicular edge, below which corallum is epithecate but free from encrustation.

Septa hexamerally arranged in 5 complete cycles. S1 slightly wider and have thicker inner edges than S2. S1–2 1.2–1.5 mm exsert and have straight, vertical, smooth inner edges that extend to the columella, the inner edges of the 4 lateral S1 actually constricting the columella into 3 lobes. S3 only about 0.8 mm exsert and two-thirds width of an S1–2, also having straight and entire inner edges. S4–5 arranged in a Pourtalès Plan, the S4 being only slightly exsert and about two-thirds width of an S3. S5 adjacent to S1–2 fused to those septa at calicular edge. Inner edges of S5 curve toward each other, each pair fusing before their adjacent S4, these 2 combined S5 within each half-system uniting before the S3 near the columella. S5 adjacent to S3 equal to or only slightly wider and as exsert as adjacent S3, but S5 adjacent to S1–2 are the predominant S5, being much more exsert and extending to the columella. Inner edges of S4–5 also smooth, without teeth or laciniation. Fossa of moderate depth, containing an elongate, solid (not porous) columella composed of tightly fused, twisted laths.

azooxanthellate

60-520 m