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 flora ( Nutting, 1910 ) Echinogorgia flora ( Nutting, 1910 ) : 66–67, pl. 11, figs. 2, 2a; pl. 21, fig. 10 (New Guinea ); Stiasny 1938: 363 ; 1942: 197 . Menella flora (new comb.) van Ofwegen & Hermanlimianto 2014: 36–38 , figs. 18–20. Opinion: There is no evidence this species occurs in the region. Justification: These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable : Thomas & George 1986: 105 , fig. 1k, 1–3, y (Vizhinjam); Thomas & Jacob 1987: 25 , fig. 1, D, E, F (Vizhinjam) Mary & Lazarus 2004: 36–37 , fig. 12; Fernando 2011: 65–66 , pl. 40, fig. 1–1d (SE & NW coast); Kumar et al . 2014a: 74 , pl. 34, fig. A–D; Fernando et al . 2017: 133 , pl. 61, fig. A–D (SE & NW coast). Literature analysis : Nutting only figured a single sclerite of this species but that, along with the colony form, clearly characterises it as a member of the genus Menella and not Echinogorgia . The holotype has been comprehensively described by van Ofwegen & Hermanlimianto (2014) . The descriptions given by Thomas & George (1986) and by Mary & Lazarus (2004) represent a Menella , but both feature the same, few, crude outline drawings of leafscales that could apply to a number of species of the genus. In the description given by Fernando in 2011 the leafscales are said to be thin and flat, like those in the holotype , but those in the figures appear to be quite thick and knobbly and could represent a number of other species. Fernando et al . (2017) , and Kumar et al . (2014a) use the the same description as in Fernando 2011 but illustrate it with an Echinogorgia . All Indian records describe red colonies, whereas the holotype is off-white. There are clearly errors with the synonymic listing provided by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) . The authors are clearly of the opinion that Menella flora Nutting, 1910 and Plexauroides praelonga Ridley, 1884 are the same species, but they state that the latter is a junior synonym of the former, which obviously cannot be because the former was established after the latter. They also include a reference to “ Menella flora Bayer 2001, p. 928 ”, but this is just a figure of a single leafclub captioned “ Menella sp. ”