Muricella ramosa Thomson & Henderson, 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 : 42-43

Muricella ramosa Thomson & Henderson, 1905

Muricella ramosa Thomson & Henderson, 1905: 301–302 , pl. 3, fig. 2&3 (Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka); Thomson & Simpson 1909: 249.

Muricella ceylonensis Thomson & Henderson, 1905: 302 , pl.6, fig, 4.

? Versluysia ramosa Nutting, 1910: 37 –38 .

Opinion: This species does occur in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Fernando 2011: 37, pl. 15, fig. 1–1d (Tuticorin); Kumar et al. 2014a: 48, pl. 21, fig. A–D (Henry Lawrence Is., South Andaman); Fernando et al. 2015: 72, pl. 29, fig. A–D (Tuticorin).

Literature analysis: Thomson & Henderson (1905) erected this species and Muricella ceylonenesis for material collected off Sri Lanka. Later, Thomson & Simpson (1909) made Muricella ceylonensis a junior synonym of Muricella ramosa . Nutting (1910: 37) reassigned the species to the genus Versluysia , but without any illustrations it is not possible to tell if Nutting’s specimen was the same species.

In the Indian accounts of the species given by Fernando (2011) and Fernando et al. (2017) the text is identical, but the illustrations are different even though the material examined is the same. But, in the accounts in Fernando et al. (2017) and Kumar et al. (2014a) the text is different, but the illustrations are identical even though the material examined is different. The colony form of Muricella ramosa is described as a “beautiful network with abundant anastomoses”, but the specimens illustrated in Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) are open colonies with only a few branches. Additionally, the close-up image of a branch portion does not agree at all with the text and bears no resemblance to the excellent illustration given by Thomson & Henderson (1905: pl. 3, fig 3). Instead, it shows densely spiculated branches with calyces and retractile polyps, which is possibly a species of Astrogorgia . On the other hand, the colony figure in Fernando (2011: pl. 15, fig. 1) is a densely branched reticulated fan, despite the text saying it is sparsely branched. Unfortunately, the close-up figure of a colony portion is not clear enough to tell if it matches the characteristic form of the holotype.

Rao & Devi (2003) and Venkataraman et al. (2004) just listed the species, as do Kumar et al. (2015) who also provide a specimen image. Most Indian refences have the specific epithet spelled “ ramose”, which is almost certainly a product of autocorrection in word processing software.