Genus Sphaerocystis Fraser, 1943a

Dentitheca Stechow, 1920: 41 .

Sphaerocystis Fraser, 1943a: 85 [invalid junior homonym of Sphaerocystis Léger, 1892 (Protozoa)].

Type species. Sphaerocystis heteronema Fraser, 1943a, by monotypy.

Current status. Invalid.

Remarks. As noted earlier (Calder 1997: 8), Sphaerocystis Fraser, 1943a is an invalid junior homonym of Sphaerocystis Léger, 1892 (Protozoa) . It is also a junior subjective synonym of Dentitheca Stechow, 1920, with its type species ( Sphaerocystis heteronema Fraser, 1943a) being regarded as identical with Dentitheca dendritica (Nutting, 1900) (see Calder 1997, 2013; Galea 2010).

A replacement name for the junior homonym Sphaerocystis Fraser, 1943a is unnecessary because an available valid subjective synonym ( Dentitheca Stechow, 1920) exists for it (ICZN Art. 60). Nevertheless, the validity of Dentitheca has been challenged in some works (e.g., Ansín Agís et al. 2014), considered therein as a synonym of Plumularia Lamarck, 1816 .