Taxonomic revision of Coralliidae with descriptions of new species from New Caledonia and the Hawaiian Archipelago

The systematics of Coralliidae has been revised based on molecular phylogenetic analysis and detailed morphological studies. This revision has also revealed the existence of new species. In order to fully accomplish this revision, five new species including <i>Hemicorallium aurantiacum</i> sp. nov., <i>Pleurocorallium bonsaiarborum</i> sp. nov., <i>P. clavatum</i> sp. nov., and <i>P. norfolkicum</i> sp. nov. from New Caledonia, and <i>H. guttatum</i> sp. nov. from the Hawaiian Archipelago are described by integrating the phylogenetic inference and morphological comparisons. Moreover, the type specimens of <i>Corallium tortuosum</i>, <i>H. reginae</i>, <i>H. halmaheirense</i>, <i>P. porcellanum</i> and <i>P. kishinouyei</i> as well as non-type specimens of <i>C. stylasteroides</i> are redescribed. The sclerites of <i>H. reginae</i>, <i>H. halmaheirense</i>, <i>P. porcellanum</i> and <i>C. stylasteroides</i> were first depicted by scanning electron microcopy. A thorough comparison between <i>P. porcellanum</i> and <i>P. kishinouyei</i> indicated that they should be regarded as one species and the former was adopted as the senior synonym<i>.</i> The two new species of <i>Hemicorallium</i> can be separated by morphological features based on the result of multiple factor analysis<i>.</i> A key is proposed for the identification of all existing species of Coralliidae. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7B772D08-E3D6-4585-AE78-E5A31BE32ECC