Pseudosuberites hyalinus var. compacta Hentschel 1914

• Main Author: Van Soest, Rob W. M.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Porifera; Demospongiae; Suberitida; Suberitidae; Pseudosuberites; Pseudosuberites hyalinus; Pseudosuberites hyalinus var. compacta hentschel; 1914; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10568112; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/BF4E397FFFB531019786FDC5BC880345

Pseudosuberites hyalinus var. compacta Hentschel, 1914 (Fig. 8P) Pseudosuberites hyalinus var. compacta Hentschel, 1914: 53, pl. IV fig. 1. The variety was described by Hentschel from Gauss Station, Antarctica, 66.0333°S 69.6333°, depth 350–385 m (syntype ZMB 4831 consisting of numerous specimens). The specimens were barely differentiated from the typical variety described by Ridley & Dendy (1887: 168, pl. XLV fig. 6, as Hymeniacidon from Patagonia, approximate coordinates 49.41°S 74.39°W, holotype BMNH 1887.521.41, consisting of two fragments). It is hard to understand why Hentschel decided that his Antarctic specimens needed to be distinguished from the adjacent SW Patagonian region as his description closely matches that of Ridley & Dendy, including shape, encrusted foreign fragments, skeleton, and spicule size. Topsent (1917: 37) failed to mention the present variety when citing Hentschel’s record of P. hyalinus , while Burton (1929: 445) and Koltun (1964: 88) considered it as a junior synonym of the typical variety. I propose to merge the present variety with the typical variety accordingly as a single species, Pseudosuberites hyalinus Ridley & Dendy, 1887. The occurrence of this species in northern Atlantic waters (cf. Van Soest 2002a: 238) remains to be confirmed. Published as part of Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, pp. 1-122 in Zootaxa 5398 (1) on page 83, DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5398.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10494167