Mycale (Mycale) gelatinosa (Ridley & Dendy, 1886) comb.nov.

Esperia gelatinosa Ridley, 1884: 611, pl. LIV figs f.

Esperella gelatinosa; Ridley & Dendy 1887: 66, pl. XVI fig. 7.

Summary description. Lobate to encrusting, up to 4.5 x 2.2 cm. Surface undulating to smooth. Color greenish brown (alcohol). Consistency firm. Ectosomal skeleton of intercrossing tangential megascleres (not reticulated). Choanosomal skeleton loose tracts of megascleres. Spicules: mycalostyles 500 x 16 µm, anisochelae I 60 µm, anisochelae II 19 µm, sigmas 57 µm, trichodragmas 20 x 6–8 µm.

Distribution. Mascarene Islands (Providence Island), North Australia (Cape York, Torres Straits), shallow water down to 43 m.

Comment. Possibly, the presence of an intermediately sized anisochela was overlooked by Ridley, and only the largest size of sigmas is provided, which would leave the presence of smaller sigmas open. If these spicules were indeed present, then the only clear distinction of this species with Mycale (Mycale) crassissima is the shape of the smallest anisochelae, of which Ridley emphasized they lack a spur. This can be distinguished only with certainty by SEM. We were unable to reexamine Ridley’s material, so a distinctness from Dendy’s species remains to be determined definitively.