Suberites cruciatus var. depressa Dendy, 1922

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 87

Suberites cruciatus var. depressa Dendy, 1922

Suberites cruciatus var. depressa Dendy, 1922: 147 (no illustration); Kumar 1925: 229.

Laxosuberites cruciatus ; Rao 1941: 426; Vacelet et al. 1976: 31.

The variety was described by Dendy from the Amirante Islands, Seychelles, approximate coordinates 6.16°S 53.13°E, depth 46 m (holotype BMNH 1921.11.7.122). The difference with the typical variety described by Dendy (1905: 131, pl. V fig. 10, from Periya Paar, Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka, approximate coordinates 8.95°N 79.75°E, depth 44 m, wet holotype BMNH 1907.2.1.30) is primarily the shape, thin flat crust in the present variety, branched in the typical variety. The differences in shape and size of the tylostyles alleged by Dendy appear quite meagre. The typical variety was previously transferred to Laxosuberites Topsent, 1896 (currently a junior synonym of Hymeniacidon Bowerbank, 1896 ), and recently it was assigned to Terpios by Lim et al. (2012). Rao (1941) and Vacelet et al. (1976) merged the present variety with the typical variety.

The present variety is a junior primary homonym of Suberites carnosus depressus Topsent, 1900 from Banyuls and NW Europe (cf. above). Junior primary homonyms must be replaced (ICZN art. 57.2) for which I propose Suberites dendyi nom.nov., named after Arthur Dendy. This may be a possible junior synonym of Terpios cruciatus Dendy, 1905 , but this is left undecided at present.