Astrogorgia verrilli ( Thomson & Henderson, 1906 ) Ramvilas & Alderslade & Ranjeet, 2023

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 : 49

?? Astrogorgia verrilli ( Thomson & Henderson, 1906) new comb.

Anthogorgia verrilli Thomson & Henderson, 1906: 64–65 (Andamans) .

Opinion: This species does occur in the region but was originally misidentified.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Fernando 2011; 34–35, pl. 12, fig. 1–1c (SE coast); Fernando et al. 2017: 64, pl. 25, 2–2c (SE coast) as Anthogorgia virrili (sic).

Literature analysis: Originally placed in the genus Anthogorgia , neither the colony, nor the polyps and the sclerites were illustrated in Thomson & Henderson’s description and because the material has never been redescribed the species remains unidentifiable. However, the authors did state that the polyp sclerites were arranged as “crown and points” and that the polyps were totally retractile, so they clearly did not have an Anthogorgia specimen before them. Their description is not sufficient to be able to tell what genus they had, but with just spindles it is very likely the specimen was an Astrogorgia .

The identical accounts given by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) state that their “species corresponds with the description attributed to the specimens described from the Andamans by Thomson & Henderson (1906) except obviously for the colour”. However, they make no mention of the polyps being retractile or having sclerites arranged as collaret and points, and their description, which mentions that the sclerites have large tubercles, actually appears to represent an unknown species of Anthogorgia , which is completely different from the material described by Thomson and Henderson.