Lithotelestidae Explained

Lithotelestidae is a family of coral in the order Helioporacea. It was erected in 1977 by Frederick Bayer and Katherine Muzik. It is characterized by a crystalline aragonite skeleton formed by stolons and calices, cylindrical calices with secondary lateral calices, and fully retractable polyps with an exoskeleton formed of calcite capstans and crosses.

Genera

• Epiphaxum Lonsdale, 1850^[1]
• Nanipora Miyazaki & Reimer, 2015^[2]

Notes and References

1. Lonsdale, W. (1850). Notes on the corals. In Dixon, F. (Ed.), The Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex (pp. 237–324). London: Brown, Green, and Longmans.
2. Miyazaki, Y. & Reimer, J. (2015). A new genus and species of octocoral with aragonite calcium-carbonate skeleton (Octocorallia, Helioporacea) from Okinawa, Japan. ZooKeys, 511, 1–23.