''Balanopsammia'' is a monotypic genus of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s in the family of tree-leaved corals,

Dendrophylliidae Dendrophylliidae is a family of stony corals. Most (but not all) members are azooxanthellate and thus have to capture food with their tentacles instead of relying on photosynthesis to produce their food. The World Register of Marine Species incl ...

. It is represented by a single species, ''Balanopsammia wirtzi'', which occurs in Atlantic waters around the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

islands of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and Sal.Ocaña, O. & Brito, A., (2013)
Balanopsammia wirtzi'', a new genus and species of coral (Anthozoa: Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae) from the Cape Verde Islands: A comparative study with the Mediterranean ''Cladopsammia rolandi
'. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias, 25: 87–104. Both the genus and the species were first named and described in 2013 by Ocaña & Brito. The genus name refers to the long confusion in the identification of the species as a '' Balanophyllia''. The species name ''wirtzi'' refers to

Peter Wirtz Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

who collected several marine species in the East Atlantic.

References

Dendrophylliidae Fauna of Santiago, Cape Verde Monotypic cnidarian genera Scleractinia genera {{scleractinia-stub