Psammopemma crassa var. clathrata Dendy, 1905

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 73

Psammopemma crassa var. clathrata Dendy, 1905

Psammopemma crassa var. clathrata Dendy, 1905: 210 (no illustration).

This variety was described by Dendy from the Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka, approximate ccordinates 9°N 79°E (wet holotype is registered in the Natural History Museum as BMNH 1907.2.1.93, R.N. 64). He transferred the Southeast Australian species Holopsamma crassa and the present variety to the genus Psammopemma Marshall, 1880: 113 . There are no illustrations, but the description mentions no microscleres or megascleres, rendering it unlikely that the variety is conspecific with the typical variety from Port Phillip Heads, Victoria, approximate coordinates 38.15°S 144.8667°E, depth 38 m (see redescription of lectotype BMNH 1886.12.15.313 of Holopsamma crassa Carter, 1885a in Hooper 2002: 452). The identification of the variety remains uncertain, but Dendy’s description points to membership of the genus Psammoclema Marshall, 1880: 109 ( Psammopemma being a junior synonym of this based on page priority ( Van Soest 2002b: 524) on the basis of absence of spicules and possession of coarse sand columns. Membership of the keratose genus Dysidea Johnston, 1842 is unlikely but cannot be excluded, as Dendy mentions large choanocyte chambers (80 µm) in the type specimen of the present variety. Until the material has been redescribed I propose to assign the variety to Psammoclema as a distinct species Psammoclema clathrata ( Dendy, 1905) , unrelated to Holopsamma crassa .