Verrucella flexuosa ( Lamarck, 1815 )

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 : 100-101

Verrucella flexuosa ( Lamarck, 1815)

Gorgonia flexuosa Lamarck, 1815: 34 (Indian Ocean) .

Verrucella flexuosa Bayer & Grasshoff 1994: 31–33 , figs. 4–5 (lectotype designation).

Opinion: There is some evidence that this species may occur in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Thomson & Henderson 1905: 316–317, pl. 3, fig. 4; pl. 4, fig. 8 ( Sri Lanka); Thomson & Simpson 1909: 269–272, pl. 4, fig. 10 (Andaman Is.); Fernando 2011: 117–118, pl. 78, fig. 1–1d (SE coast); Fernando et al. 2017: 268, pl. 125, fig. 1–1d (SE coast).

Literature analysis: This species was originally established by Lamarck as Gorgonia flexuosa for a specimen from the Indian Ocean: exact collection locality unknown.It was transferred to the genus Gorgonella by Valenciennes (1855) and to Verrucella by Milne Edwards & Haime (1857). The detailed characteristics of this species were quite unknown until a lectotype of V. flexuosa was designated and described by Bayer & Grasshoff (1994). Consequently, secondary records prior to Bayer & Grasshoff’s description of the species are unreliable as they were based on little evidence.

Thomson & Henderson (1905) described two varieties of Verrucella flexuosa from Sri Lanka, only one of which was cited as a synonym by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) ( Verrucella flexuosa var. aurantiacea (sic) (= aurantiaca )). The sclerites of the first ( Verrucella flexuosa var. aurantiaca ) were not illustrated, but 3 sclerites of the second ( Verrucella flexuosa var. gallensis ) were. The latter, which are of a form common to a number of species, resemble those figured by Bayer and Grasshoff, but the specimen lacked the very small double-heads present in the lectotype.

The descriptions of the Indian material by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) are identical, but the sclerite images are far too small to see the necessary detail. These authors were apparently unaware of Bayer & Grasshoff’s lectotype description. Their text says “Refer to Thompson & Henderson (1909)” (a typo for Thomson & Simpson), where there is a description of “ Verrucella flexuosa, Klungzinger ”. Bayer & Grasshoff had included that reference as uncertain in their list of synonyms, but Grasshoff (2000) later stated that Klungzinger’s identification was wrong and erected the new species Verrucella klungzingeri for Klungzinger’s specimen. In the list of synonyms in Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017), Klungzinger’s taxon is erroneously listed as “ Gorgonella flexuosa ”. They also have “ Gorgonella flexuosa Lamarck, 1816 ” instead of Gorgonia flexuosa Lamarck, 1815 . The authors said their material agrees “completely” with the description published by Stiasny (1940) as Gorgonella flexuosa , but Bayer & Grasshoff stated the latter was not a synonym of Verrucella flexuosa .

The general shape of the sclerites figured by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) seem quite similar to those of the lectotype as do the dimensions, although the spindles are much smaller (0.08 mm versus 0.102 mm), so the identification could be correct. But it is not possible to assess the finer details in order to differentiate them from those of other species, such as V. aurantia (Gray, 1869) as illustrated by Bayer & Grasshoff (1994: fig. 7), and from the images provided, the sclerites also resemble those from other nominal species in these Indian accounts, such as V. diadema and V. dichromata . Notably, however, the material described by these authors appears to be identical to that wrongly assigned by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) to Verrucella klungzingeri Grasshoff, 2000 . Indeed, the identical reference to “ Gorgonella flexuosa Stiasny, 1940 ” is also listed as a synonym in the Fernando et al. (2017) description of Verrucella klungzingeri . Venkataraman et al. (2004) just lists the species.