Discovery of a new species of Leptogorgia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) from eastern tropical Pacific mesophotic reefs

The large gorgonian genus Leptogorgia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857 is abundant and widely distributed along coastlines and around oceanic islands in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, where it comprises 31 species with a wide bathymetric distribution. Material of Leptogorgia dictynna sp. nov. was collected at mesophotic reefs bordering marine protected areas off Pacific Costa Rica and Panamá. The species is characterised by a conspicuous, irregularly pinnate branching pattern; almost flat polyp-mounds with a lateral, biserial distribution on the branches; coenenchymal sclerites mostly long and thin spindles, up to 0.17 mm in length; and white colony and sclerites. The finding of this new species confirmed the biodiversity hot spot status of the protected areas where it was sampled and the need to increase their protection. Herein, the new species is described, and it is compared with other members of the genus in the Eastern Tropical Pacific from both a morphological and a molecular point of view.