Eschara fragilis Linnaeus, 1758: 805 (type locality: "Oceano Americano'' [Jamaica fide Huisman & Townsend, 1993]).
Tricleocarpa fragilis (Linnaeus) Huisman & Townsend, 1993: 100, table 2.
Taxonomic synonyms:
Corallina oblongata Ellis & Solander, 1786: 114, pl. 22: fig. 1 (type locality: West Indies).
Galaxaura oblongata (Ellis & Solander) Lamouroux, 1816: 262.—Kützing, 1858: 16: pl. 35: fig. II.— G. Martens, 1871b: 467.— Theobald, 1883: 26.— Børgesen, 1931: 3–4.— Børgesen, 1934b: 32.— Børgesen, 1942b: 49–50.— P. Anand, 1943b: 16.— Svedelius, 1945: 18–28, 38–39, figs. 11–13, pl. III; pl. VI: fig. 1.— R. Chou, 1947: 7–9, pl. 2, figs. 1–16; pl. 3: figs. 1–14; pl. 9: figs. 1, 2.— Børgesen, 1949a: 41–44.— Børgesen, 1951: 37.— Varma, 1961: 224, 225.— Salim, 1965: 196.— S. Dixit, 1966: 12.— Papenfuss & Chiang, 1969: 310–312, figs. 3b, 5a.— Umamaheswara Rao, 1969d: 43.— V. Krishnamurthy & H. Joshi, 1970: 17.— Umamaheswara Rao, 1970b: 367.— Gopalakrishnan, 1971: tables I, II.— Isaac, 1971: 13.— Sartoni, 1975: 291, fig. 19.— Jaasund, 1976: 67, fig. 135.— Jaasund, 1977c: 417.— Subbaramaiah, Nair, & V. Krishnamurthy, 1977: 76.— Murthy, Bhattacharya, & Radia, 1978: 382.— Pichon, 1978: 150, 301, 414.— Farghaly, 1980: 154.— Lawson, 1980: 44.— Papenfuss, Mshigeni, & Chiang, 1982: 415–418, figs. 10–13, 25, 26, 38.— Gopinathan & Panigrahy, 1983: 51.— Untawale, Dhargalkar, & Agadi, 1983: [27].— Mshigeni, 1985: 18.— Chennubhotla, Kaliaperumal, & Kalimuthu, 1987a: 106–107.— Untawale, Reddy, & Ambiye, 1989: table 1.— Desikachary, V. Krishnamurthy, & M. Balakrishnan, 1990: 181–183, figs. 37A,B, pls. XX, XXI.B.— Kamat et al., 1991: 55.— Bhakuni et al., 1992: 514.— Jagtap, 1992: 57.— Kalimuthu, Kaliaperumal, & Ramalingam, 1992: 123.— Kamat et al., 1992: table I.— Shameel & J. Tanaka, 1992: 45.— Titlyanova, Perestenko, & Kalugina-Gutnik, 1992: 42.— Jagtap, 1993: table I.— Kerkar, 1994: table 1.
Tricleocarpa oblongata (Ellis & Solander) Huisman & Borowitzka, 1990: 168–169, figs. 46–49, 53–56 (including Indian Ocean records).—Kalugina-Gutnik, Perestenko, & Titlyanova, 1992: 17 (table 1).
Dichotomaria fragilis Lamarck, 1816: 145 (type locality: "les mers d'Amérique'').
Galaxaura fragilis (Lamarck) Lamouroux ex Decaisne, 1842b: 116.—Hauck, 1886 [1886–1889]: 220.— G. Murray, 1887: 28.— De Wildeman, 1897a: 168 (var. occidentalis [= var. fragilis]).— Schröder, 1912: 299.— Weber-van Bosse, 1921: 214.— De Toni, 1924: 122–123.— S. Dixit, 1970: 117.— Lawson, 1980: 44.
* Galaxaura dimorpha Kjellman, 1900: 63, pl. 8: figs. 23–28; pl. 20: fig. 3 (type locality: Timor, Indonesia).—Weber-van Bosse, 1921: 214–215.— De Toni, 1924: 124–125.
Galaxaura eburnea Kjellman, 1900: 62–63, pl. 9: fig. 13; pl. 20: fig. 21 (including Indian Ocean record) (lectotype locality: Moorefield River, Queensland, Australia fide Huisman & Borowitzka, 1990: 168).—Weber-van Bosse, 1921: 215 (with query).— De Toni, 1924: 124.
* Galaxaura pilifera Kjellman, 1900: 65–66, pl. 9: figs. 4–12; pl. 20: fig. 8 (type locality: Îlot Barkly, Mauritius).—De Toni, 1924: 127.— Børgesen, 1942b: 51–52, fig. 23.— Svedelius, 1945: 46–47.— Børgesen, 1949a: 44–45.
Misapplied name:
Galaxaura dichotoma.—Jadin, 1935: 162.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: Aldabra Islands, Andaman Islands, Australia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laccadive Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicobar Islands, Pakistan, Réunion, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania.
Note: Dichotomaria fragilis Lamarck, which was included in the synonymy of Galaxaura oblongata by Howe (1920: 559), was treated by Huisman & Townsend (1993: 99) as a combination of Eschara fragilis Linnaeus rather than a new species. While Lamarck cited Tubularia fragilis "Gmel. 3832'' [i.e., (Linnaeus) Linnaeus (1767a: 1302)], which is based on Eschara fragilis Linnaeus, he did so with a query. Moreover, his provision of a description and citation of a collection make it possible to interpret his binomial as the name of a new species, an interpretation followed by Decaisne (1842b: 116), Howe (1920: 559), and Papenfuss, Mshigeni, & Chiang (1982: 416). The latter authors designated a specimen from Lamarck's herbarium (at PC) as the type.Galaxaura dimorpha and G. pilifera were included in the synonymy of G. oblongata by Papenfuss & Chiang (1969: 310–312), but were not treated by Huisman & Borowitzka (1990) and may eventually prove to be better placed in Tricleocarpa cylindrica. In both revisions G. eburnea was treated as a synonym of T. oblongata. The misapplication of the name G. dichotoma was noted by Børgesen (1942b: 49–50).