387 Neogene corals from the Indo-Pacific

Twenty-two new, extinct species are described from a total of 155 Neogene coral species collected from the Indo-West Pacific. Samples are from three sites: the Salayar Limestone, in Sulawesi, Indonesia; the Yalam Limestone in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, and the Tokelau Limestone Group on Vanua Balavu, Fiji. The oldest are those from Fiji, which span the middle Miocene to the Pliocene, 16.9-6.7 million years ago (Ma). The Papua New Guinea sites occur in the middle Miocene, from 14.8-12.3 Ma. The youngest samples are those collected in Indonesia, from the late Miocene to the early Pleistocene, 5.8 - 1.4 Ma. Many of the species in this collection reset the age-range of numerous Indo-Pacific taxa and indicate that a Miocene cosmopolitan fauna likely existed prior to and during the closure of the Tethys.