Euspongia canaliculata var. dura Von Lendenfeld, 1886

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 15-16

Euspongia canaliculata var. dura Von Lendenfeld, 1886

( Fig. 1C )

Euspongia canaliculata var. dura Von Lendenfeld, 1886: 502 , pl. 36 fig. 1.

Hippospongia canaliculata var. dura ; ( Von Lendenfeld 1889: 321, pl. 12 fig. 6, pl. 19 figs. 1, 5–6,8,9).

Hippospongia canaliculata ; Hooper & Wiedenmayer 1994: 382.

The variety was described by Von Lendenfeld from Port Jackson, SE Australia, approximate coordinates, 33.85°S 151.25°E (dry lectotype BMNH 1886.8.27.311, fide Hooper & Wiedenmayer 1994: 382). Von Lendenfeld (1886: 502) curiously suggested that his var. dura was identical to Carter’s (1885b: 316) Euspongia anfractuosa (currently Hippospongia anfractuosa ), but changed his mind over it in 1889: 314 when he assigned it first to Euspongia officinalis var. cavernosa Ridley, 1884: 379 , and further on to Hippospongia fistulosa Von Lendenfeld, 1889: 313 , currently an accepted name). Even more curiously, Von Lendenfeld erected Hippospongia canaliculata var. typica Von Lendenfeld, 1889: 323 , for specimens from the Bahamas, apparently intended as the typical variety, but this was not valid because that variety was not mentioned among the varieties originally erected in 1886.

For obvious reasons, Von Lendenfeld’s manipulations were not accepted by Hooper & Wiedenmayer (1994: 382); they assigned the var. dura to the species Hippospongia canaliculata ( Von Lendenfeld, 1886) , apparently the nominotypical variety as it was first mentioned by Von Lendenfeld. I concur with this decision.

De Laubenfels (1948:17) transferred the Australian Euspongia canaliculata Von Lendenfeld to the Mediterranean species Spongia zimocca Schmidt, 1862 as an Australian subspecies canaliculata of that species without a clear explanation; this found no followers.

The name of the present variety is a junior primary homonym of Euspongia officinalis var. dura Von Lendenfeld, 1886: 530 , currently Spongia (Spongia) lignea Hyatt, 1877 . The junior homonym is not an an available name, so it has to be renamed. Reassignment to Spongia (Spongia) lignea removed the homonymy.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Verongia hirsuta var. fistularoides Hyatt, 1875 as pictured by Poléjaeff, 1884: pl. X fig. 1, B. Cacospongia dendroides var. dura Poléjaeff, 1884: pl. VIII fig. 1, C. Hippospongia canaliculata var. dura (Von Lendenfeld, 1889): pl. 12 fig. 6, D. Euspongia officinalis var. exigua Schulze, 1879: pl. XXXIV figs. 5–7, E. Euspongia officinalis var. exigua Schulze, 1879: pl. XXXV figs. 6–8, F. Euspongia officinalis var. irregularis Schulze, 1879: pl. XXXV fig. 5, G. Psammocinia alba Samaai, Pillay & Janson, 2019: fig. 30A.