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

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 .