Merulinidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of reef-building

stony corals Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

Characteristics

All the genera in this family are colonial, reef-building corals. Skeletal structures are similar to those of Faviidae but are highly fused, without paliform lobes. The valleys are superficial or may be indistinct because of fan-like spreading or contortions in the ridges. Faviidae and Trachyphylliidae are the most closely related families.

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species includes these

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

in the family: *'' Astrea'' Lamarck, 1801 *'' Australogyra'' Veron & Pichon, 1982 *'' Boninastrea'' Yabe & Sugiyama, 1935 *'' Caulastraea'' Dana, 1846 *'' Coelastrea'' Verrill, 1866 *''

Cyphastrea ''Cyphastrea'' is a genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Merulinidae, commonly known as brain coral. Species The World Register of Marine Species lists the following species: *''Cyphastrea agassizi'' (Vaughan, 1907) - Aga ...

'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *'' Dipsastraea'' Blainville, 1830 *'' Echinopora'' Lamarck, 1816 *''

Erythrastrea ''Erythrastrea'' is a genus of cnidarians belonging to the family Faviidae Mussidae is a family of stony coral in the order Scleractinia. Following a taxonomic revision in 2012, the family is now restricted to species found in the Atlantic Oc ...

'' Pichon, Scheer & Pillai, 1983 *'' Favites'' Link, 1807 *'' Goniastrea'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *'' Hydnophora'' Fischer von Waldheim, 1807 *'' Hydnophyllia'' † Reis, 1889 *'' Isastraea''† Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851 *'' Leptoria'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *''

Merulina ''Merulina'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Members of this genus are native to the Indo-Pacific region and their ranges extend from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean as far as Japan and the southern central Pacific Ocea ...

'' Ehrenberg, 1834 *'' Mycedium'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1851 *'' Orbicella'' Dana, 1846 *''

Oulophyllia ''Oulophyllia'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Members of this genus are native to the tropical western and central Indo-Pacific region. Characteristics The colonies of these corals are massive and form dome-shaped mounds ...

'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *''

Paragoniastrea ''Paragoniastrea'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Species The following species are currently recognized by the World Register of Marine Species: * ''Paragoniastrea australensis ''Paragoniastrea australensis'', ...

'' Huang, Benzoni & Budd, 2014 *'' Paraleptoria''† Budd & Bosellini, 2016 *'' Paramontastraea'' Huang & Budd, 2014 *''

Pectinia ''Pectinia'' is a genus of corals Corals are marine invertebrates within the class (biology), class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. C ...

'' Blainville, 1825 *'' Physophyllia'' Duncan, 1884 *''

Platygyra ''Platygyra'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Species The following species are currently recognized: *'' Platygyra acuta'' Veron, 2002 *''Platygyra carnosus ''Platygyra'' is a genus (biology), genus of Scleractinia, ...

'' Ehrenberg, 1834 *'' Scapophyllia'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 *'' Trachyphyllia'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849

References

Scleractinia Cnidarian families Taxa named by Addison Emery Verrill {{scleractinia-stub