The taxonomy of Indian gorgonians: an assessment of the descriptive records of gorgonians (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) recorded as occurring in the territorial waters of India, along with neighbouring regions and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the highlighting of perceived unethical practice
Author
Ramvilas, Ghosh
0000-0001-5028-9058
ramvilas@kufos.ac.in
Author
Alderslade, Philip
0000-0001-5801-4681
phil.alderslade@csiro.au
Author
Ranjeet, Kutty
0000-0001-5028-9058
ramvilas@kufos.ac.in
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-02-07
5236
1
1
124
journal article
54753
10.11646/zootaxa.5236.1.1
64c50077-1b03-44c5-9af9-0dac9180d62d
1175-5326
7639327
796FF9F5-E71F-4C69-92CC-CF4D6752BD77
Menella woodin
Grasshoff, 1999
Menella woodin
Grasshoff, 1999: 54
, fig. 89–91; pl. 5, fig. 3 (
New Caledonia
).
Opinion: There is no evidence this species occurs in the region.
Justification:
These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable
:
Kumar
et al
. 2014a: 68
, pl. 31, fig. A–D (Havelock, Long Island);
Fernando
et al
. 2017: 143
, pl. 66, fig. A–D (Havelock, Long Island).
Literature analysis
: The accounts given by
Kumar
et al
. (2014a)
and
Fernando
et al
. (2017)
are identical and the material examined states there are
2 specimens
that are
28 cm
high and
15 cm
high respectively. The text, however, states “the size of the colony is
35 cm
”, which happens to be identical to the size of one of the samples described by
Grasshoff (1999)
. Additionally, the description of the sclerites of the Indian material is virtually a word-for-word copy of Grasshoff’s text so the true characters of the material are uncertain. The sclerites figured from the polyps of the Indian material are very different from those of the
holotype
and although the copied text refers to branched, inner coenenchyme sclerites with 3–5 rays, only a few capstans are shown. This species is probably endemic to
New Caledonia
.
Kumar
et al
. (2015)
just lists the species and figure the colony from the 2014 and 2017 publications above, while
Kumar
et al
. (2018a)
just lists the species.