Verrucella corona 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 : 98

Verrucella corona Grasshoff, 1999

Verrucella corona Grasshoff, 1999: 83–84 , fig. 140; pl. 11, fig. 2–4 ( New Caledonia).

Opinion: This species does not appear to occur in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 38, pl. 16, fig. A–D (Havelock Is.); Fernando et al. 2017: 262, pl. 122, fig. A–D (Andaman Is.).

Literature analysis: The publications of Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) present identical accounts, but the true characteristics of the material are unknown because nearly all of their description is taken word-for-word from Grasshoffs original text, even incorporating the same colony and sclerite measurements: the latter resulting in figured sclerites being much larger than the size given in the text. Additionally, the third sclerite figure from the left in the bottom row is also figured in these authors’ description of Dichotella gemmacea . Verrucella corona is probably endemic to New Caledonia. Kumar et al. (2015), Kumar et al. (2017: PY-B) and Kumar et al. (2019b) just list the species and provide a colony image, while Kumar et al. (2018a) just lists the species.