Reniera velamentosa Hansen, 1885

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 83

Reniera velamentosa Hansen, 1885

( Figs. 9A–B )

Reniera velamentosa Hansen, 1885: 4 , pl. I fig. 10, pl. VI fig. 3.

? Halichondria velamentosa ; Lundbeck 1902: 22, pl. I fig. 5, pl. IX figs. 4-6; Hentschel 1929: 991.

Amorphina velamentosa ; Van Soest 2001: 89.

The species was described by Hansen from the N coast of Norway, Norwegian North- Atlantic Exped. Stat. 262, 70.6°N 32.5833°E, depth 271 m (type material is presumably in ZMBN, Norway). The present combination is currently assigned as a junior synonym of Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea ( Pallas, 1766) (cf. above for details of type locality and neotype above under H. (H.) panicea var. hemispherica ), but earlier Lundbeck (1902: 22) assigned material identified by him to the present species (as Halichondria velamentosa ) from numerous stations of the Ingolf Expedition in Denmark Strait, south of Greenland and north of Iceland (material preserved in ZMUC). The identification is perhaps wrong because the spicule lengths of his material exceed that of H. (H.) panicea , and the spicule lengths of Hansen’s material is unknown so far. These assignments make the name of the present species a junior secondary homonym of Spuma borealis var. velamentosa Miklucho-Maclay (1870: 14 , pl. II fig. 30) here represented by Fig. 9C ), described from Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands, approximate coordinates 53.67°N 167.23°W, depth not given (also additional localities, Sakhalin, Sea of Ochotsk and Novaya Zembla are mentioned) (type material not identified). The combination is assigned to Halichondria by Arndt (1935: 103) as a junior synonym of H. (H.) panicea , confirmed by Erpenbeck & Van Soest (2002: 806). The homonymy is proposed to be removed by the likely conspecificity of the two species as H. (H.) panicea , which would make a replacement name for Reniera velamentosa unnecessary. If Hansen’s material will turn out to be a different species from H. (H.) panicea (e.g. Halichondria velamentosa sensu Lundbeck, 1902 ), then the name R. velamentosa will have to be replaced.

Figures

FIGURE 9. A–B. Reniera velamentosa Hansen, 1885, A. habitus pl. I fig. 10, B. spicules pl. VI fig. 3, C. Spuma borealis var. velamentosa Miklucho-Maclay, 1870: pl. II fig. 30, D. Stylocordyla borealis var. acuata Kirkpatrick, 1908: pl. XVI figs. 6–10, E. Stylocordyla borealis var. irregularis Hentschel, 1914: pl. IV fig. 2, F–G. Stylocordyla stipitata var. globosa Ridley & Dendy, 1886; Ridley & Dendy, 1887, F. habitus pl. XLIII fig. 10, G. skeleton of body text-fig. 9, H. Suberites carnosus depressus Topsent, 1900: pl. VII fig. 4, I. Suberites hirsutus; Topsent, 1928: pl. VI fig. 5, J. Suberites hirsutus sensu Johnston, 1841: pl. XVI fig. 1, K. Suberites hirsutus sensu Fleming, 1828: from Cordiner, 1788: fig. 27.