Commented list of the Mediterranean Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia (Anthozoa)

Abstract

       Biogeographical interpretation of the sea anemone fauna of the Mediterranean Sea still biased by taxonomical problems and shortage of data. On the basis of a literature review 51 species of Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia are listed here. Three species do not fulfill criteria for validity (ICZN), Heliactis minor ANDRES, 1880, Halcampella endromitata ANDRES, 1883 and Paraphellia sanzoi CALABRESI, 1926. Of the remaining 48 valid species, 2 species are not prop­erly documented for the Mediterranean Sea; their occurrence needs to be confirmed (Edwardsiella carnea and Gonactinia prolifera). An analysis of the intra-Mediterranean distribu­tion data suggests that these are two major species groups. The first group comprises the fauna of the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic (dissimilarity of 40%), the second of the central and eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Black Sea (dissimilarity of 55 to 80%). These results should be considered as an mistantaneous picture, liable to change with increasing research efforts in the presently less explored eastern areas of the Mediterranean.