Lobophylliidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of large polyp

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a ...

s. The family was created in 2009 after a revision of the "robust" families of

Faviidae Mussidae is a family of stony coral in the order Scleractinia. Following a taxonomic revision in 2012, the family is now restricted to species found in the Atlantic Ocean, with Pacific species transferred to the new family Lobophylliidae. Many ...

Merulinidae Merulinidae is a family of reef-building stony corals. Characteristics All the genera in this family are colonial, reef-building corals. Skeletal structures are similar to those of Faviidae but are highly fused, without paliform lobes. The valle ...

Mussidae Mussidae is a family of stony coral in the order Scleractinia. Following a taxonomic revision in 2012, the family is now restricted to species found in the Atlantic Ocean, with Pacific species transferred to the new family Lobophylliidae. Many ...

and

Pectiniidae Pectiniidae was a family of stony corals, commonly known as chalice corals, but the name is no longer considered valid. Taxonomy The "robust" stony coral families of Faviidae, Merulinidae, Mussidae and Pectiniidae, have traditionally been recog ...

, which had been shown to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

. The family Lobophylliidae was formed out of the Indo-Pacific species that had traditionally been included in Mussidae, and some of the species which had previously formed Pectiniidae, the remaining species from Pectiniidae having been merged into Merulinidae. The

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

is '' Lobophyllia''.

Taxonomy

The "robust" stony coral families of

and

, have traditionally been recognised on morphological grounds but recent molecular analysis has shown that these families are

, the similarities between the species having occurred through

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. Additionally, some traditional genera such as ''

Favia ''Favia'' is a genus of reef-building stony corals in the family Mussidae. Members of the genus are massive or thickly encrusting colonial corals, either dome-shaped or flat, and a few are foliaceous. There is a great diversity of form even among ...

'' and '' Scolymia'' have been found to be polyphyletic, with the Atlantic faviids and scolymids being more closely related to each other than they are to their Indo-Pacific relatives. A revised classification, proposed in 2012, places the Pacific species of Mussidae in a new family, Lobophylliidae and retains the taxon Mussidae for the Atlantic species. In the revision, the genera '' Echinomorpha'', '' Echinophyllia'' and '' Oxypora'' were transferred to Lobophylliidae from Pectiniidae and the genus '' Moseleya'' from elsewhere.

Genera

The

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific specialist ...

includes the following genera in the family: *''

Acanthastrea ''Acanthastrea'' is a genus of large polyp stony corals in the family Lobophylliidae. The colonies are massive and usually flat. The corallites are either circular or angular in shape. The septa are thick near the wall of the corallite, becomin ...

'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *'' Australophyllia'' Benzoni & Arrigoni, 2016 *'' Cynarina'' Brüggemann, 1877 *'' Echinomorpha'' Veron, 2000 *'' Echinophyllia'' Klunzinger, 1879 *'' Homophyllia'' Brüggemann, 1877 *'' Lobophyllia'' de Blainville, 1830 *'' Micromussa'' Veron, 2000 *'' Moseleya'' Quelch, 1884 *'' Oxypora'' Saville-Kent, 1871 *'' Sclerophyllia'' Klunzinger, 1879

References

Cnidarian families Scleractinia {{scleractinia-stub