Muricella paraplectana 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 : 42

Muricella paraplectana Grasshoff, 1999

Muricella paraplectana Grasshoff, 1999: 34 , figs. 47, 49, 51 ( New Caledonia).

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

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 46, pl. 20, fig.A–D (Twin Is., South Andaman); Fernando et al. 2017: 66, pl. 26, fig. A–D (South Andaman).

Literature analysis: This species was erected for material collected in New Caledonian waters. Part of the holotype was figured by Grasshoff (1999: fig. 49) and showed the colony to be a richly branched fan that appears to have many anastomoses. The descriptions given by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017), which are identical, figure a colony with a completely different growth form, being very sparsely branched. Kumar et al. (2015) just listed the species and presented an illustration of the colony from the 2014 and 2017 papers cited above.