这不是秘密Euphyllia珊瑚是一个非常多样化的群体，似乎其中一些物种可能与我们想象的彼此不同。我们在每个物种中看到一系列形式，以及大量的“青蛙 - 陶器”和‘ham-spawns’that have an intermediate appearance between the classically recognized species.
Once upon a time the variousEuphyllia被分类为两个亚属 -Euphylliafor the ‘phaceloid’ or branching torch, branching hammer, branching frogspawns etc. (E. glabrescens, E. cristata, E. paraancora, E. paradivisa,和E. paraglabrescens).Meanwhile a separate genus,纤维状腹膜,was used to contain the ‘wall’ corals like ‘classic’ hammers (E. Ancora) and normal frogspawns (E. Divisa).
由于发现了具有中间生长形式的新物种并将两个子属分类为一个，但对该小组的新研究旨在阐明它们与复活的关系纤维状腹膜to a full genus status.
This time around the taxonomy of theEuphyllia钻探不仅仅是纯粹的骨骼形状，还考虑了遗传分析以及形状，尤其是lengthof the polyp and spawning behavior. The typical branching Euphyllia are hermaphroditic brooding corals – this explains why we see so many tiny babies released from torch corals – while the regular hammer & frogspawn corals are broadcast spawners with separate sexes.
This somewhat helps to explain why it’s possible to group mostEuphyllia珊瑚在水瓶座上靠近，但必须保持火炬珊瑚的隔离，以免点亮其同类物。复活的提议Fimbriophyllia似乎是基于许多合理的观察，但是Joe Rowlett pointed out, there might be some issues with using this particular genus name.
就像我们发现的那样Galaxea和Euphylliaare more closely related than we ever knew, it’s equally enlightening to learn that some of the Euphyllias are more不同的than we ever imagined, but having different spawning behavior is a pretty big one. The research paper is a dense read but if you want to dive into the deep end of Euphyllia taxonomy,Katrina Luzon et. al.会让您忙一会儿。
