Abstract
Based on new studies of the type and of specimens from various localities in the Indian and Pacific oceans, Hydrolithon samoënse was reaffirmed as a distinct species. The following taxa were found to be heterotypic synonyms thereof: Neogoniolithon caribaeum, N. erosum and N. rugulosum. Based on morphological and anatomical data H. samoënse not only occurs extensively throughout the Indo-Pacific and northern, southern and subtropical eastern Atlantic oceans, but as a result of the present study, is now known to occur throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the western Atlantic Ocean.