Aulopsammiidae

Aulopsammiidae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Subphylum:	Anthozoa
Class:	Octocorallia
Order:	Scleralcyonacea
Family:	Aulopsammiidae Reuss, 1854
Synonyms
Lithotelestidae

Aulopsammiidae (synonym: Lithotelestidae) is a family of coral in the order Scleralcyonacea.

McFadden et al. 2022, and some other authors in the past, include the content of this family in the family Helioporidae. ^{[1] [2]}

Characteristics

The family is characterized by a crystalline aragonite skeleton formed by stolons and calices, cylindrical calices with secondary lateral calices, and fully retractable polyps with an exoskeleton formed of calcite capstans and crosses. ^[3]

Genera

• Epiphaxum Lonsdale, 1850 ^[4]

The genus Nanipora Miyazaki & Reimer, 2015 is sometimes also included in this family. ^[5]

References

1. McFadden, Catherine S.; Ofwegen, Leen P. van; Quattrini, Andrea M. (14 October 2022). "Revisionary systematics of Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) guided by phylogenomics". Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists. 1 (3). doi: 10.18061/bssb.v1i3.8735 . ISSN   2768-0819.
2. Morales, H. H., Löser, H. Revision of the family Helioporidae (Helioporacea, Anthozoa; Cretaceous – Extant). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 287 Heft 3 (2018), p. 351 - 363
3. Bayer, F. M. & Muzik, K. M. (1977). An Atlantic helioporan coral (Coelenterata: Octocorallia). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 90(4), 975–984.
4. Lonsdale, W. (1850). Notes on the corals. In Dixon, F. (Ed.), The Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex (pp. 237–324). London: Brown, Green, and Longmans.
5. Encyclopedia of the World's Biomes. Elsevier. 2020-06-26. p. 599. ISBN   978-0-12-816097-8 . Retrieved 2025-07-09.