Nomenclature of *Aulactinia* (=*Bunodactis*), with description of *Aulactinia incubans* n.sp. (Coelentera: Actiniaria), an internally brooding sea anemone from Puget Sound

Abstract

*Aulactinia incubans* n.sp. is an internally brooding actinian known from the San Juan Archipelago, Washington, U.S.A., and from Torch Bay, Alaska, U.S.A. Found in sheltered intertidal habitats, this sea anemone averages 25-30 mm in pedal disc diamter and has fewer than 65 tentacles. Females, hermaphrodites, sexually undifferentiated, and possibly male individuals are known. *Aulactinia incubans* released its brooded young through the pore at the tip of each tentacle; the young are tentaculate at the time of release. This species fits genus *Bunodactis* in all respects except that the outer tentacles of some individuals contain atrichous nematocysts. We believe that this feature alone, which is not apparent in all specimens of the species, does not require naming a new genus. Rather, we broaden the definition of genus *Aulactinia*, a name that has priority over *Bunodactis*, to include this character.