Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . forms. Many digitiform species have in the past beenplagued with considerable confusion in the literature as to proper genericplacement. Verseveldt & Bayer (1988) recently provided a much needed revisionof four genera that contain digitiform species: Bellonella Gray, 1862, and Eleu-therobia Putter, 1900 (Alcyoniidae), and Nidalia Gray, 1835, and NidaliopsisKiikenthal, 1906 (Nidaliidae), and named two new genera, Inflatocalyx(Alcyoniidae) and Pieterfaurea (Nidaliidae). This re-assessment has shown thatMetalcyonium Pfeffer
Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . forms. Many digitiform species have in the past beenplagued with considerable confusion in the literature as to proper genericplacement. Verseveldt & Bayer (1988) recently provided a much needed revisionof four genera that contain digitiform species: Bellonella Gray, 1862, and Eleu-therobia Putter, 1900 (Alcyoniidae), and Nidalia Gray, 1835, and NidaliopsisKiikenthal, 1906 (Nidaliidae), and named two new genera, Inflatocalyx(Alcyoniidae) and Pieterfaurea (Nidaliidae). This re-assessment has shown thatMetalcyonium Pfeffer, 1888, is not a valid genus because the type speciesM. capitatum Pfeffer, 1888, can be accommodated in Bellonella. All of theabove-mentioned genera have polyps that retract into permanent calyces or atleast into protuberances composed of palisade-like arrangements of digitiform alcyoniids do not possess permanent calyces but rather thepolyps retract directly into the polyparium or into basal protuberances that are SOFT CORALS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA 321. Fig. 35. Verseveldtia bucciniforme Williams, 19906. A. Entire colony growing on a foraminiferan fragment, length of colony 13 mm. B. Entire colony. 17 mm in length. C. Sclerites from tentacles. D. Sclerites from polyps and capitulum. E. Stalk sclerites. C-E. Scale bar = 0,1 mm. 322 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM capable of complete retraction into the polyparium. Williams (1986a: 61; 1988:18)maintained that the genus Alcyonium should be considered a morphologicallydiverse assemblage of species and that certain digitiform or capitate forms with-out permanent calyces can be accommodated within it. The southern AfricanAlcyonium moriferum and A. variabile and the Japanese A. muricatum Yamada,1950, and A. pacificum Yamada, 1950, are examples of such species. Eight ofthe digitiform or capitate southern African forms have been included in the pres-ent work: Alcyonium mutabiliforme, A. moriferum, A. planiceps, A. variabi
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