Timea crassa sensu Lévi, 1952

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 79

Timea crassa sensu Lévi, 1952

( Fig. 8J )

Timea crassa ; sensu Lévi, 1952: 46, fig. 10.

Not: Topsent 1900: 120.

I list here a complicated case (see also below under Timea hallezi var. crassa ), based on a mistake made by Lévi (1952: 44–46) on Timea material from Senegal. He described T. crassa as similar to the species described by Topsent (1925b), but Topsent based his name on the original combination Hymedesmia hallezi var. crassa Topsent, 1900 . This taxon was later elevated by Topsent (1925b: 6) to species rank as Timea crassa with several slight differentiations. The improved description was not based on the type material from the Channel area, but on new specimens collected in the Étang de Thau, an inland lake branched off from the Mediterranean. Apart from differentiated small spicules (interpreted as ‘juvenile’) and large asters, he also noted that the tylostyles of the type were more robust, than those of the Mediterranean specimens. Lévi (1952) not only described Senegalese material from Baie de Hannan, 14.7167°N 17.4297°W, depth 17–18 m, as T. crassa , but also described an apparently different Timea taxon as T. hallezi var. crassa from Pointe Bernard, Dakar, Senegal (14.6541°N 17,43°W, no depth provided) as if that would be different from T. crassa . Nomenclaturally, Timea hallezi var. crassa sensu Lévi, 1952 (cf. below) must be called T. crassa ( Topsent, 1900) , and the present T. crassa sensu Lévi, 1952 must have a new name. I propose Timea levii nom.nov. to replace the present combination. Type material has not been ascertained, but it should be in MNHN; type locality is Baie de Hannan, Senegal.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A. Cliona argus var. laevicollis Thiele, 1898: pl. VIII fig. 15, B. Spirastrella decumbens var. Ridley & Dendy, 1887: pl. XLV fig. 12, C–D. Spirastrella digitata Hentschel, 1909, C. habitus pl. XXII fig. 7, D. spicules text-fig. 18, E. Spirastrella vagabunda var. arabica Topsent, 1893: fig. 1, F. Suberites inconstans var. digitata Dendy, 1887: pl. IX fig. 2, G. Suberites inconstans var. globosa Dendy, 1887: pl. IX fig. 1, H. Suberites inconstans var. maeandrina Dendy, 1887: pl. X fig. 1, I. Hymedesmia unistellata var. aspera Topsent, 1904: pl. XII fig. 7, J. Timea crassa; sensu Lévi, 1952: fig. 10, K. Timea hallezi var. crassa; sensu Lévi, 1952: fig. 9, L. Aaptos niger Hoshino, 1981b: pl. II fig. 5, M. Halichondria bowerbanki var. stellifera Breton, Girard & Lagardère, 1995: fig. 9, N. Hymeniacidon kerguelensis var. capensis Hentschel, 1914: pl. VIII fig. 8, O. Pellina longispicula f. tahanrohensis Czerniavsky, 1880: pl. II (VI) figs. 15b-c, P. Pseudosuberites hyalinus var. compacta Hentschel, 1914: pl. IV fig. 1.