Ovabunda verseveldti (Benayahu 1990)

The holotype is 18 mm high; its stalk is 9 mm long, 5 mm wide at its base and 13 mm wide at its uppermost part. Polyp’s body is 1–4 mm long, and the tentacles 6 mm long, bearing 1.8 mm long and 0.2 mm wide pinnules separated from each other by a small gap, less than one pinnule width. A single row of 14–18 pinnules is aligned on each side of the tentacles. There are numerous sclerites in all parts of the colony, densely packed in the pinnules and scarce in the mid-line of the tentacles’ oral side. The sclerites are Ovabunda-type, varying in shape from regular spheroids (Fig. 20b) to egg-shaped (Fig. 20a) and more rectangular forms (Fig. 20c), measuring 0.014–0.033 × 0.022–0.046 mm in diameter (n = 45). Rarely, two sclerites are fused, reaching a diameter of up to 0.051 mm (Fig. 20d). The four paratypes (ZMTAU Co 31625) are smaller than the holotype, 12–17 mm high; the stalk is 10–15 mm long, 4–6 mm wide at the stalk base and 6–8 mm wide at the upper part. Polyp’s body is up to 5 mm long, and tentacles up to 3 mm long, featuring one row of 12–17 pinnules on each side. The pinnules are 1.2 mm long and 0.2 mm wide at their base, densely set in each row, almost touching each other. The sclerites are Ovabunda-type, measuring 0.018–0.030 × 0.022–0.049 mm in diameter (n = 38). Occasionally, two sclerites are fused, reaching a maximum size of 0.049 mm. The original description did not mention polyp pulsation. The ethanol-preserved colonies are light brown.

Red Sea: Gulf of Aqaba, southern tip of Sinai Peninsula.