Fucus venosus Linnaeus, 1771: 312 (type locality: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa).
Hymenena venosa (Linnaeus) Krauss, 1846: 209.
Hymenena fissa Greville, 1830: xlviii, nom. illeg.
Nitophyllum fissum J. Agardh, 1872: 51.—Barton, 1893: 144.— Delf & Michell, 1921: 111.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: South Africa.
Note: When Greville (l.c.) transferred Fucus venosus to Hymenena, he unnecessarily changed the epithet to fissa, but when J. Agardh (l.c.) transferred it to Nitophyllum, he was not able to use venosum because of the prior existence of N. venosum Harvey (1849 [1847–1849]: 118; type locality: Table Bay, Cape Peninsula, South Africa; Polyneura venosa (Harvey) Papenfuss, 1968b: 277), a species not reported from the Indian Ocean. Barton (l.c.) and Delf & Michell (l.c.) merely repeated Krauss's dubious record of this cold-water species from Knysna.