Hircinia vallata Dendy, 1887

Van Soest, Rob W. M., 2024, Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera, Zootaxa 5398 (1), pp. 1-122 : 17-18

Hircinia vallata Dendy, 1887

Hircinia vallata Dendy, 1887: 163 (no illustration).

Hircinia (Psammocinia) vallata ; Von Lendenfeld 1889: 581 (no illustration, not mentioned in Hooper & Wiedenmayer 1994). Psammocinia vesiculifera ; Cook & Bergquist 1998: 400.

This species described by Dendy from Madras (= Chennai), approximate coordinates 13.0806°N 80.3°E, India (lectotype) and Ceylon (= Sri Lanka), approximate coordinates 9°N 79°E (paralectotype) (the dry Madras lectotype is listed in the BMNH collections as ‘holotype’ BMNH 1887.8.24.1, coll. E. Thurston). The species was prematurely described and named by Dendy, as he referred to Von Lendenfeld’s manuscript name vallata for it, to which he apparently had access. Von Lendenfeld (1889: 581) redescribed the species as Hircinia (Psammocinia) vallata , claiming it as his own species without citing Dendy’s name or reference, but listing Dendy’s material from BMNH in addition to material collected from Port Phillip Heads, Victoria, Australia, approximate coordinates 38.1167°S 144.8667°E.

The revision of the genus Psammocinia Von Lendenfeld, 1889 by Cook & Bergquist (1998: 400) mentioned only Von Lendenfeld’s name as a junior synonym of Psammocinia vesiculifera ( Poléjaeff, 1884: 58) , ignoring Dendy’s original use of the name vallata . It would at first glance be a case of homonymy with Dendy’s vallata as senior primary homonym, but Dendy’s reference to Von Lendenfeld’s monograph and the name Hircinia vallata R. von Lendenfeld, MS , makes it abundantly clear that at least part of the specimens is the same for both author descriptions. It remains perhaps undecided whether the South East Australian specimens are conspecific with the Indian type specimens, but if that would not be the case the Australian specimens would be a simple misapplication of the name vallata Dendy, 1887 , not a case of homonymy. I propose to assign this species to the junior synonymy of Psammocinia vesiculifera ( Poléjaeff, 1884) .