The species Antipathes dichotoma wa

The species Antipathes dichotoma was established by Pallas in 1766 on the basis of
a description given by Marsigli (1725) of a specimen collected in the Mediterranean
off the coast of Marseille. Marsigli’s specimen (Lithophyte no. 9) was described and
illustrated as a loosely dichotomously branched colony with strong spines and a biserial
arrangement of polyps, with each polyp appearing to have only two tentacles. Pallas
(1766) had no additional specimens on which to expand and clarify the species definition.
Brook (1889) was the first worker who provided a more detailed description of
the species based on a specimen from the Bay of Naples. Brook’s specimen did not
closely match Marsigli’s illustration in that the branching was more irregular and not
so dichotomous. Later workers have followed Brook’s diagnosis and, in general, most
of the specimens described from the Mediterranean more closely resemble Brook’s
specimen than Marsigli’s illustration.
Brook (1889) designated Antipathes dichotoma Pallas as the type species of the genus
Antipathes. Of the five species originally placed in the genus by Pallas, A. dichotoma
was the only species of two retained in the genus (the other was A. foeniculacea Pallas)
for which Brook had a specimen. Brook, however, did not specifically designate his
specimen as a neotype. It is unlikely that Marsigli’s specimen is still extant, and
because of confusion over the identity of this species with others from many different
localities, it seemed necessary to describe the species on the basis of modern techniques
and to provide sufficient information to help differentiate this species from a number
of others which had previously been synonymized with it.