Acanthastrea Lordhowensis => Micromussa Lordhowensis

[wpeterson]

It sounds like the Acan Lords we all know and love have been recently re-classified as Micromussa and not Acanthastrea.

February 5 2016, Jake Adams –

Micromussa lordhowensis is the new designation for one of the reef aquarium hobby’s most popular species of large polyp stony corals. After a decade of enjoying this colorful and fleshy coral in aquariums as Acan Lords, we’re now going to have to come around to calling them Micro Lords.

This is quite confusing since we’ve always differentiated between Acanthastrea and Micromussa as ‘Acans’ and ‘Micros’. Now we come to learn that the most iconic of all Acans, the ‘Acan’ Lords are now considered to be a species of Micromussa. In retrospect this makes sense because the uniform circular polyps of ‘Lords, together with their copious fleshy tissue and finely beaded texture is much more similar to the polyps of Micromussa than Acanthastrea.​

https://reefbuilders.com/2016/02/05/micromussa-lordhowensis-amicromussa-lordhowensis-acan-lords-are-now-micro-lordscan-lords-are-now-a-species-of-micro/

 

[Enderturtle]

Neato.

Pretty sure most hobbyists and vendors are still going to call them "acans"


What I want to know is...just out of curiousity..how does this affect Acanthastrea echinata?

Are those still considered under the genus Acanthastrea?

 

[Baykes]

Thanks for sharing!

However I have to admit that Lord Acan is the better sith name Lord micro just doesnt cut it

 

[Coral reefer]

I

Neato.

Pretty sure most hobbyists and vendors are still going to call them "acans"


What I want to know is...just out of curiousity..how does this affect Acanthastrea echinata?

Are those still considered under the genus Acanthastrea?

I think only the "lords" were reclassified.

 

[wpeterson]

I'm still going to call them Acans, but I thought it was an interesting article. Naming in this hobby is always a crapshoot for coral, between latin names I can't pronounce/remember and weird coral brands that make no sense.

It is exciting when there is new research to place these animals in an entirely different location within the taxonomy, or at least one slot over within the family.