Gelliodes fayalensis var. minor Topsent, 1928

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 34

Gelliodes fayalensis var. minor Topsent, 1928

Gelliodes fayalensis var. minor Topsent, 1928: 318 (no illustration).

The variety was described by Topsent from Prince Albert 1 er Monaco Cruises Stat. 891, off Porto Santo, Madeira archipelago, 33.033°N 16.317°W, depth 100 m (type material in MOM, with a slide in MNHN DT 1108) was erected on the basis of shorter and thinner oxeas compared to two specimens of the typical variety described by Topsent (1892: 78, pl. III fig. 13, pl. IX fig. 11, collected by the Prince Albert 1 er Monaco Cruises Stat. 247, from 130 m depth in the strait between Pico and Fayal in the Azores, 38.3831°N 30.3331°W, type in MOM and slide in MNHN DT 1058): 200 x 5–5.5 µm vs. 270 x 9 µm in the typical variety. More importantly, the sigmas were smaller: 12–15 µm in the present variety vs 20–28 µm in the typical variety. The habit of the variety was not depicted but was apparently similar to that of the typical variety. In Topsent’s 1904 report on the sponges of the Azores another five specimens of the typical variety are mentioned but no descriptive details on habit or spicules were provided. Sitja & Maldonado (2014: 171) reported and described specimens of Gelliodes fayalensis from 87–92 m depth in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean). These authors did not discuss the var. minor , but their spicule size data covered the size range between Topsent’s typical variety and the var. minor : oxeas 200–400 x 2–5 µm, possibly in two length categories, and sigmas 15–27 µm. These data from a single specimen indicate that Topsent’s varieties cannot be confidently distinguished. Accordingly, I propose to merge the var. minor with the typical variety and consider them synonymous as Gelliodes fayalensis Topsent, 1928 .