Hicksonella princeps Nutting, 1910

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 : 75

Hicksonella princeps Nutting, 1910

Hicksonella princeps Nutting, 1910a: 15 , pl. 3, fig. 1, 1a; pl. 4, fig. 10 (Banda); Alderslade 1986; 93, fig. 6 (Great Barrier Reef); Grasshoff 1999:19 ( New Caledonia).

Opinion: There is not enough evidence that this species occurs in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 60, pl. 27, fig. A–E (Guitor Island); Fernando et al. 2017: 218, pl. 100, fig. A–E (Guitor Island).

Literature analysis: The descriptions given by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) are identical but the sclerites that are illustrated are quite different from those of H. princeps as figured by Alderslade (1986: fig. 6). In the latter figure, the warts on the clubs and the short, slender spindles are spiny, and on the spindles, there are three of these warts in each of two conspicuous, opposed, median girdles. Sclerites like these are also characteristic of Rumphella aggregata ( Nutting, 1910) (see Bayer 1955: fig. 2a). None of the spindles figured in the Indian papers are of this form, and the second sclerite from the left of the “subsurface” sclerites, an oval spindle with numerous girdles of rounded warts, has not been reported for any species of Hicksonella .

Kumar et al. (2015) just listed the species and provided an image of the specimen from the 2014 and 2017 papers above. This species has only been reported from Indonesia, New Caledonia and Australia.