Porites furcata

[Stephen C Jameson]

Dear David,

I did my dissertation on the Taxonomy of the Poritidae off Belize and 
found that the branching species of Porites are in fact different 
species.  My dissertation used type specimens and a morphmetric approach 
(discriminate analysis).  My paper was presented at the coral reef 
symposium in Panama and will be published in the proceedings.  Jameson, 
S.C., (in press).  Morphometric analysis of the Poritidae (Anthozoa:  
Scleractinia) off Belize.  Proceedings 8th International Coral Reef 
Symposium, Panama.

In another study using Porites off Panama, Ernesto Weil also got similar 
results using a genetic/morphometric approach.  Weil EFM (1992) Genetic 
and morphological variation in Porites 	(Cnidaria, Anthozoa) across the 
isthmus of Panama. Unpubl PhD 	diss, Univ of Texas, Austin, 238 pp

Preliminary work by Potts and others using electrophoresis also suggested 
the branching species are different species.  Potts DC, Budd AF, 
Garthwaite RL (1993) Soft tissue vs. skeletal 	approaches to species 
recognition and phylogeny reconstruction 	in corals.  Cour Forsch-Inst 
Senckenberg 164:221-231

Please let me know if you need more details.



>Subject:     Porites furcata
>Date:        07/03  2:40 PM
>Received:    07/07  8:05 AM
>From:        David Patriquin, patriqui at is.dal.ca
>To:          coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
>I recently reexamined  epiflora and epifauna at seagrass sites in the
>eastern Caribbean that I had first examined in 1969. What I had recognized
>then as Porites furcata is still around, but I have not kept up with the
>lit. in this area  - can anyone direct me to the latest word on the
>taxonomic status of Porites porites/P. divaricata, P. furcata? References
>to papers on  ecology of P. furcata would also be appreciated.  Many
>thanks. David Patriquin (Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada).
>