Junceella delicata 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 : 93

Junceella delicata Grasshoff, 1999

Junceella delicata Grasshoff, 1999: 70 , fig. 117; pl. 7, fig. 1 ( New Caledonia).

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

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 20, pl. 7, fig. A–C (Pongibalu); Fernando et al. 2017: 250, pl. 116, fig. A–C (Pongibalu).

Literature analysis: The publications of Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) present virtually identical accounts, but the true characteristics of their material are unknown because most of their description is copied from that of Grasshoff (1999). Regardless of that, species of Junceella are whip-like and unbranched, whereas the colony illustrated by the Indian authors is a complexly branched colony that would appear to belong to the genus Dichotella . Kumar et al. (2015) just lists the species and figure the colony from the 2014 and 2015 papers above.