Auletta lyrata var. crassispiculata Dendy, 1905

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 52

Auletta lyrata var. crassispiculata Dendy, 1905

Auletta lyrata var. crassispiculata Dendy, 1905: 195 .

The variety was described by Dendy from Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka, approximate coordinates 9°N 79°. Dendy mentioned three specimens, two from shallow water in the Gulf of Mannar, one from deep water off Galle, but the Natural History Museum online catalogue lists only a single holotype specimen (wet), BMNH 1907.2.1.84. The variety is very casually described: “loosely bushy specimens characterized mainly by the large size of the spicules”. No measurements are provided, because ‘it is almost impossible to express the differences’. The variety has not been recognized subsequently. In view of the indistinctness I propose to consider it a junior synonym of Auletta lyrata ( Esper, 1806) , but it cannot be excluded that it belongs to Auletta aurantiaca Dendy, 1889 .