Toward a Revision of the Bamboo Corals: Part 2, Untangling the Genus Lepidisis (Octocorallia: Isididae)

Abstract The genus Lepidisis was established by Verrill in 1883 for three species collected from the continental slope in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Over the intervening years, several species were assigned to this genus using conflicting characters taken from Verrill's original description. Using what remains of Verrill's syntype specimens and a new specimen collected from off of the coast of the New England region, USA, we show that Verrill made a serious mistake in his description of the type species, and that mistake has caused some of the confusion surrounding this genus. We redescribe the type species, then use that description to evaluate the other species currently assigned to the genus.