Ovabunda ainex (Reinicke 1997)

The holotype is 45 mm high; its stalk is 15 mm long and splits at the base into three branches, two of which split again into two, 22 and 18 mm above the colony base; the latter branches are 35 and 30 mm long, 8 and 10 mm wide at their base, 4 and 6 mm wide at their uppermost part, respectively. The third branch splits 20 mm above the base into three branches, and is 40 mm long and 7 mm wide at its base and 5-7 mm wide at the uppermost part. The polyp’s body is up to 10 mm long, and the tentacles are up to 5 mm long, featuring three rows of pinnules on each side. The pinnules are relatively slender, up to 1 mm long and 0.08 mm wide, 17-20 in the outermost row with a space of one to two pinnule widths between adjacent pinnules. The spheroidal sclerites, typical regular Ovabunda sclerites, are scarce in all parts of the colony, measuring 0.011–0.030 × 0.018–0.042 mm in diameter (n = 25), composed of a mass of corpuscle-shaped microscleres. The original description indicated non-pulsating polyps for the live colonies. The ethanol-preserved holotype is light yellowish-beige, almost transparent. The paratype is 20 mm long; its stalk is 15 mm wide at its base, splitting into two branches, each 5 mm long and 10 and 8 mm wide at the base. The polyp’s body is up to 5 mm long, and the tentacles up to 5 mm long, bearing three rows of pinnules and 15–17 pinnules in the outermost row. The pinnules are 1.6 mm long and 0.16 mm wide, with a gap between adjacent pinnules ranging from one to three pinnule widths. The sclerites are Ovabunda vabunda-type, regular or irregular in shape (Fig. 3a, c), 0.012–0.026 × 0.02–0.04 mm in diameter (n = 21 sclerites). When two sclerites fuse they reach 0.039 mm in maximum diameter (Fig. 3b). The original description indicated non-pulsating polyps for live colonies. The ethanol-preserved colony is light beige.

Red Sea: Gulf of Aqaba, Sudan.