Villogorgia rubricata Thomson, 1905

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 : 73

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5236.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:796FF9F5-E71F-4C69-92CC-CF4D6752BD77
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7641108
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0388B641-7B5E-FFE4-FF56-FB3AFAE9F8F7
treatment provided by	Plazi (2023-02-08 15:54:05, last updated 2024-11-28 18:43:59)
scientific name	Villogorgia rubricata Thomson, 1905
status	nom. nov.

Treatment

Villogorgia rubricata Thomson, 1905 nom. nov.

Acamptogorgia rubra Thomson, 1905: 26 , text-fig. 1, pl. fig. 5 ( Ceylon Seas).

? Acamptogorgia rubra Thomson & Simpson 1909: 229–230 (Andamans) .

Opinion: This species does occur in the region.

Justification:

Literature analysis: Thomson (1905) described a small colony fragment as Acamptogorgia rubra from “ Ceylon seas” and figured portion of a branch and some stylised sclerite drawings. More material was recorded a little later by Thomson & Simpson (1909) from the Andamans, but with no illustrations. As Thomson was the original author it is assumed that the Indian specimens were probably conspecific with the Sri Lankan sample, but the species is essentially unrecognisable. Despite this, Nutting (1910: 72) attributed Indonesian material to this species and transferred it to the genus Villogorgia while apparently unaware that Hiles (1899) had earlier erected a species named Villogorgia rubra from Funafuti. Kükenthal (1924) transferred the species to the genus Periceles and Hiles’ species to the genus Brandella . Both Periscleles and Brandella are considerd junior synonyms of Villogorgia so we nominate the replacement name Villogorgia rubricata for Thomson’s species in the hope that it will one day be redescribed. Rao & Devi (2003) just list the species under the old original name Acamptogorgia rubra .

References

Hiles, I. L. (1899) s. n. In: The Gorgonacea collected by Dr. Willey. Zoological Results based on material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and elsewhere collected during the years 1895, 1896 and 1897, by Arthur Willey. Part 2. University Press, Cambridge, pp. 195 - 206.

Kukenthal, W. (1924) Gorgonaria. Das Tierreich. Vol. 47. Walter de Gruyter and Co., Berlin und Leipzig, xxviii + 478 pp.

Nutting, C. C. (1910) The Gorgonacea of the Siboga Expedition III. The Muriceidae. Siboga-Expeditie Monograph, 13 b, 1 - 108.

Rao, D. V. & Devi, K. (2003) Studies on the soft corals (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) of Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional paper, 206, 1 - 99.

Thomson, J. A. (1905) Appendix to the report on the Alcyonaria collected by Professor Herdman, at Ceylon, in 1902. In: Herdman, W. A. (Ed.), Report to the Government of Ceylon on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar, Part 4 (Supplementary Report), pp. 167 - 186, 1 pl.

Thomson, J. A. & Simpson, J. J. (1909) An account of the alcyonarians collected by the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator in the Indian Ocean. The Alcyonarians of the Littoral Area. The Indian Museum, Calcutta, 319 + xviii pp.