El caso de Renilla chilensis Philippi, 1892 (Octocorallia, Pennatulacea)

Abstract

The present work tries to elarify the taxonomic status of species Renilla chilensis Philippi, 1892. This species was describes for the first time for R.A. Philippi (1892), but this diagnosis is very poor and don't have a description of sclerites and number of calicinal teeth, nevertheless its externa morphology, as soon as the bilobulate shape of the rachis and the geographical distribution coincide with the species Renilla octodentata Zamponi & Pérez, 1995. Since R. chilensis is a species of doubtful identity with the available elements in the present (original description, figures, samples examined for Dr. Philippi); for this reason the authors propose to consider the species R. chilensis as a species inquirenda keeping out R. octodentata as a valid species. If further investigations confirm the synonymy of both species, R. octodentata will be a junior synonym of R. chilensis.