Melithaea ochracea ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

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 : 30

Melithaea ochracea ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Isis ocracea Linnaeus, 1758: 799 .

Isis ochracea Linnaeus 1766: 1287 .

Clathraria roemeri Kükenthal, 1908: 201 ( Indonesia) ; 1919: 195, pl. 37, fig. 39 ( Indonesia); 1924: 87, fig. 60 ( Indonesia); Hickson 1937: 188 ( Indonesia).

Melithaea ochracea Ofwegen 1987: 7 , figs. 1–2 ( Indonesia).

Melithaea ochracea Reijnen et al. 2014: 395–397 , figs. 5–6 (neotype designation) ( Moluccas).

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

Justification:

These Indian records are either unconfirmable or seem to be invalid: Kumar et al. 2014a: 96, pl. 45, fig. A–D (South Andaman); Fernando et al. 2017: 33, pl. 12, fig. A–D (South Andaman).

Literature analysis: Although the characteristics of this old Linnean species have never been known, for more than a quarter of a millennium many authors have included it their publications. In order to stabilise the taxonomy Reijnen et al. designated a neotype in 2014. The descriptions given by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) are identical but their figured sclerites are quite different from those of the neotype. Their description is also confusing. They state that the colony is both bushy and then also being in one plane, the sclerites are said to be less than 0.1 mm, which is half the size of those in the neotype, and the polyps are said to contain disc-spindles—a state that does not occur in any octocoral. Kumar et al. (2015) lists the species and provide a colony figure. Kumar et al. (2018a) and Kumar et al. (2019) list the species and provide the references for the 2014 and 2017 publications above. After studying numerous colonies from Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific, Reijnen et al. (2014), concluded this species is confined to the Moluccas in Indonesia.