Sphaerococcus scutellatus Hering, 1841: 91 (type locality: Table Bay, Cape Province, South Africa fide Papenfuss, 1940a: 220).
Sarcothalia scutellata (Hering) Leister in Hommersand et al., 1993: 113.
Taxonomic synonym:
Gigartina fastigiata J. Agardh, 1849: 86, nom. illeg. (type locality: "Cap b. spei'' [Cape Province, South Africa]).—Dickie, 1874b: 196.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: Mauritius.
Note: The synonymy was discussed by Simons (1983: 805). Gigartina fastigiata J. Agardh is a later homonym of G. fastigiata (Linnaeus) S. Gray (1821: 374) (Fucus fastigiatus Linnaeus), a taxonomic synonym of Furcellaria lumbricalis (Hudson) Lamouroux (q.v.). A second earlier homonym, G. fastigiata Postels & Ruprecht (1840: 16; type locality: Sitka, Alaska), has been referred to Ahnfeltia by Makienko (1970: 1086). According to Papenfuss (l.c.), the type locality of Sphaerococcus scutellatus is erroneously given as Port Natal [Durban] on the label accompanying the type specimen. This error is the basis of the Natal records of this species published by Barton (1893: 139; 1896: 459). The Mauritius record is improbable since this species is otherwise known only from the cold waters of South Africa.