A new genus of bamboo coral (Octocorallia: Scleralcyonacea: Keratoisididae) from the Whittard Canyon, Ireland, Northeast Atlantic

Description of the genus and species Explorisis katharinaDeep-sea corals are rarely identified to species due to a lack of taxonomic expertise and paucity of sampling. Herein we describe a new genus from the family Keratoisididae collected from the Northeast Atlantic at 2669 m. Using both nuclear, 1925 conserved element loci, and complete mitogenomes phylogenies, we found this genus to be closely related to the genera Dokidisis and Jasonisis. All three genera lack thorned or double-star sclerites in the pharynx, a potential unifying feature of Watling et al. 2022 keratoisidid group J3, but the newly described Explorisis katharina has a unique sclerome including spindles and tapered rods, that diagnoses it from its sister genera.