Author: Andrew Baird The Project Phoenix Townsville + Sydney + Perth crew ran a workshop on the use of nomenclatures in taxonomy on 19th February 2021. The workshop outlined how to put together a useful nomenclature and how to use a nomenclature to progress coral taxonomy. The bottom line is that working within the “accepted” … Continue reading Workshop on the use of nomenclatures in taxonomy
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Changing coral taxonomy: What can we do in the meantime?
Author: Hanaka Mera As a PhD student, if someone told me that the species I am working with (or planning on) for my research project actually might be something entirely different or might be five different species, it would be quite overwhelming, maybe feel a bit devastated. This could be true for any researcher or … Continue reading Changing coral taxonomy: What can we do in the meantime?
Types, topotypes and vouchers are the key to progress in coral taxonomy: Comment on Wepfer et al. (2020)
Victor Bonito, Andrew Baird, Tom Bridge, Peter Cowman, and Doug Fenner recently published a Letter to the Editor on Wepfer et al. (2020) re-iterating why the current accepted coral taxonomy is not the place to begin when examining species boundaries or evolutionary relationships in scleractinian corals. They highlighted how the taxonomic value of the study … Continue reading Types, topotypes and vouchers are the key to progress in coral taxonomy: Comment on Wepfer et al. (2020)
Acropora torresiana
Author: Andrew Baird Species: Acropora torresiana Veron 2000 One of the many difficulties in sorting coral taxonomy is the often contradictory information attached to the type material. For example, Acropora torresiana was officially named by Charlie Veron in 2000 with the type location given as the “Torres Strait”. Also complicating the issue is the fact … Continue reading Acropora torresiana
Heron Island Field Trip
Author: Andrew Baird Project Phoenix recently visited Heron Island Research Station in the Capricorn Bunker Group on the Great Barrier Reef in their ongoing hunt for coral topotypes and new species. At least 7 nominal species of Scleractinia have type locations in the region and we are confident we found representatives of most of these, … Continue reading Heron Island Field Trip
Paper appraisal for Gómez-Corrales and Prada (2020) on Faculty Opinions
Andrew Baird and Hugo Harrison recently published an appraisal of a great paper by Gómez-Corrales & Prada (2020) that highlights one situation where you need to get your taxonomy correct – establishing the bleaching susceptibility of coral species. If your institution does not have access to Faculty Opinions, please contact Andrew or Hugo for a … Continue reading Paper appraisal for Gómez-Corrales and Prada (2020) on Faculty Opinions
Interview with the Strasbourg Zoological Museum
In an interview with the Strasbourg Zoological Museum (Musée Zoologique de Strasbourg), Andrew Baird discusses why museum visits are such an essential part of taxonomic research. Watch the video on their Facebook page. Thank you Musée Zoologique de Strasbourg for having us! [Image: Strasbourg Zoological Museum] [Image: Strasbourg Cathedral]
Blastopathes medusa
Author: Jeremy Horowitz Species: Blastopathes medusa Horowitz 2020 This large (> 1 m tall) and strange yet elegant and mythology-inspiring black coral is the newest addition to the Order Antipathidae. This species is described from, and dominates sandy habitats situated adjacent to patchy shallow and mesophotic coral reefs in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. The … Continue reading Blastopathes medusa
Media Release: Project Phoenix – DNA unlocks a new understanding of coral
Our core members Pete Cowman, Andrea Quattrini, Tom Bridge, and Andrew Baird have been interviewed for their recent paper introducing a new tool for phylogenomic analyses of scleractinian corals. Read the full article by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies:Project Phoenix: DNA unlocks a new understanding of coral Literature cited Cowman, P.F., … Continue reading Media Release: Project Phoenix – DNA unlocks a new understanding of coral
Micromussa lordhowensis
Author: Andrew Baird Species: Micromussa lordhowensis (Veron and Pichon 1982) This a striking beautiful coral, with brightly coloured large fleshy tentacles that puff up during the day making the corallum appear plocoid, however, they retract when touched to reveal the ceroid arrangement of the corallites. This species was initially placed in the genus Acanthastrea (Veron … Continue reading Micromussa lordhowensis
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