328 Neogene paleontology in the northern Dominican Republic 4-6

Neogene paleontology in the northern Dominican Republic: 4-6 - BAP #328 4. The genus Stephanocoenia (Anthozoa: Scleractina: Astrocoeniidae) written by A.B. Foster Multivariate statistical procedures are used to distinguish species in the reef-coral genus Stephanocoenia through a continuous Neogene sequence (five-million year time interval) in the Cibao Valley of the norther Dominican Republic. This genus is the only member of the family Astrocoeniidae that occurs in the sequence. The material consists of 56 colonies (17 of which are measured) from 24 localities in four river sections, the most important being Río Gurabo and Río Cana. Ten characters are measured on each of 10 corallites per colony. The data are analyzed using cluster and canonical discriminant analysis to group colonies into clusters representing species. Identical measurements on modern colonies collected near Discovery Bay, Jamaica are included for comparison. Two fossil species are defined in the analysis, one of