Ellisella azilia 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 : 86

Ellisella azilia Grasshoff, 1999

Ellisella azilia Grasshoff, 1999: 79 , fig. 131; pl. 9, fig. 2 ( 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: 10, pl. 2, fig. A–C (Guitor Is.); Fernando et al. 2017: 226, pl. 107, fig. A–C (Guitor Is.).

Literature analysis: The publications of Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) present almost identical descriptions, and their colony is quite different to the holotype as is the polyp distribution. But the true characteristics of the Indian material are unknown because many of the sclerites that are figured are also figured for both E. nuctenea and E. eustata in a modified form and the text has been taken almost word-for-word from parts of the original description by Grasshoff (1999). In the sclerite figure given in Fernando et al. (2017), starting from the left: the first sclerite is also figured for Ellisella nuctea , but smaller; the second and third sclerites are also figured for that species, but stretched or enlarged; the fourth sclerite is figured for Ellisella eustala , but enlarged; the fifth is figured for the same species, but longer and narrower, along with the sixth, which is slightly wider but considerably stretched. Additionally, most of the sclerites in the Fernando et al. (2017) description also appear in modified form in the Kumar et al. (2014a) sclerite figure for Verrucella gubalensis Grasshoff, 2000 . Kumar et al. (2015) just lists the species and figures the specimen from the 2014 paper. Kumar et al. (2018a) just lists the species.