Menella flora ( Nutting, 1910 )

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 : 62

Menella flora ( Nutting, 1910)

Echinogorgia flora ( Nutting, 1910) : 66–67, pl. 11, figs. 2, 2a; pl. 21, fig. 10 (New Guinea); Stiasny 1938: 363; 1942: 197.

Menella flora (new comb.) van Ofwegen & Hermanlimianto 2014: 36–38, figs. 18–20.

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

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Thomas & George 1986: 105, fig. 1k, 1–3, y (Vizhinjam); Thomas & Jacob 1987: 25, fig. 1, D, E, F (Vizhinjam) Mary & Lazarus 2004: 36–37, fig. 12; Fernando 2011: 65–66, pl. 40, fig. 1–1d (SE & NW coast); Kumar et al. 2014a: 74, pl. 34, fig. A–D; Fernando et al. 2017: 133, pl. 61, fig. A–D (SE & NW coast).

Literature analysis: Nutting only figured a single sclerite of this species but that, along with the colony form, clearly characterises it as a member of the genus Menella and not Echinogorgia . The holotype has been comprehensively described by van Ofwegen & Hermanlimianto (2014). The descriptions given by Thomas & George (1986) and by Mary & Lazarus (2004) represent a Menella , but both feature the same, few, crude outline drawings of leafscales that could apply to a number of species of the genus. In the description given by Fernando in 2011 the leafscales are said to be thin and flat, like those in the holotype, but those in the figures appear to be quite thick and knobbly and could represent a number of other species. Fernando et al. (2017), and Kumar et al. (2014a) use the the same description as in Fernando 2011 but illustrate it with an Echinogorgia . All Indian records describe red colonies, whereas the holotype is off-white.

There are clearly errors with the synonymic listing provided by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017). The authors are clearly of the opinion that Menella flora Nutting, 1910 and Plexauroides praelonga Ridley, 1884 are the same species, but they state that the latter is a junior synonym of the former, which obviously cannot be because the former was established after the latter. They also include a reference to “ Menella flora Bayer 2001, p. 928 ”, but this is just a figure of a single leafclub captioned “ Menella sp. ”