Ellisella cercidia Grasshoff, 1999

Ramvilas, Ghosh, Alderslade, Philip & Ranjeet, Kutty, 2023, 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, Zootaxa 5236 (1), pp. 1-124 : 87

Ellisella cercidia Grasshoff, 1999

Ellisella cercidia Grasshoff, 1999: 78 , fig. 129; pl. 8, fig. 4 ( New Caledonia).

Opinion: There is no evidence that this species occurs in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 12, pl. 3, fig. A–D (Andaman Is.); Fernando et al. 2017: 230, pl. 108, fig. A–D (Andaman Is.).

Literature analysis: The publications of Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) both present identical accounts, but without more detailed descriptions and larger illustrations of the sclerites it would be difficult to recognise their species, and without a revision of the genus it would probably be impossible to assess its validity as a new species. However, the true characteristics of the Indian material are unknown because the descriptive text is almost word-for-word the same as that in Grasshoff (1999) including the size of the sclerites, which do not have large irregular-shaped tubercles and are quite unlike those of the holotype. Kumar et al. (2015) just listed the species and figured the same specimen, while Kumar et al. (2018a) just lists the species.