Eunicella filiformis Studer, 1878

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 : 74

Eunicella filiformis Studer, 1878

Eunicea filiformis Studer, 1878: 138 (West Africa).

Eunicella filiformis Studer, 1878a: 655 , pl. 4, figs. 23 a–c.

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

Justification:

Literature analysis: This species was erected by Studer for material collected of the west coast of Africa and originally named Eunicea filiformis , but, shortly after, Studer (1878a) reassigned the species to Eunicella .

The only Indian reference is in a presented by Kumar et al. (2017: PY-B) where the species is presented with the authorship as “Studer, 1879”, and “1879 Scirpearia filiformis Studer ” is cited as a synonym. But Studer did not publish in that year, and Scirpearia filiformis is a species erected by Toeplitz and is a synonym of Ellisella filiformis . Kumar et al. (2017: PY-B) cited Scirpearia filiformis in Thomas & George (1986: 111) and Mary & Lazarus (2004: 42) as being synonymous, but the sclerite drawings in those papers are very rudimentary and do not look like they are from an ellisellid and are certainly not from a Eunicella colony.