Nicella laxa Whitelegge, 1897

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 : 96-97

Nicella laxa Whitelegge, 1897

Nicella laxa Whitelegge, 1897: 318 , pl. 17, fig. 30–33 (Funafuti).

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: 32, pl. 13, fig.A–D (Twin Islands); Fernando et al. 2017: 296, pl. 139, fig. A–D (Twin Islands).

Literature analysis: This species was established for a specimen from Funafuti in the Central West Pacific. It has been synonymised with Scirpearia dichotoma Gray and Nicella mauritiana Gray , but is currently accepted as a valid species. Whitelegge only presented three rudimentary sclerites drawings, and as the holotype has never been redescribed, the exact details of the sclerites are unknown. But Whitelegge did record the double heads of the surface layer as being 0.05–0.07 mm long and the subsurface sclerites as “broad or narrow fusiform spindles, with rather obtusely pointed ends …some of which possess a transverse median constriction”, and as being 0.1–0.25 mm long. Grasshoff (1999) assigned material from New Caledonia to this species but recorded the surface sclerites as only 0.03–0.04 mm long and the subsurface as only 0.07–0.09 mm long, and there is only the slightest hint of a median constriction in a few of the figured sclerites.

The publications of Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) present identical accounts and state that there is a “subsurface layer of flattened rods or spindles generally without a distinct waist” that can be “two to four times the length of the double heads”. But their figure shows subsurface sclerites that are not flattened, that have a distinct waist, that are only about twice the length of the surface sclerites, and that just have a few girdles of tubercles, quite unlike those figured by Whitelegge. It seems much more likely the Indian material is a species of Verrucella . Kumar et al. (2015) just lists the species and figure the colony from the 2014 and 2017 papers above. Kumar et al. (2018a) just lists the species.