WoRMS name details
Suberites inconstans var. digitata Dendy, 1887
195701 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:195701)
unaccepted (genus transfer and status change)
Variety
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
Dendy, A. (1887). The Sponge-fauna of Madras. A Report on a Collection of Sponges obtained in the Neighbourhood of Madras by Edgar Thurston, Esq. <em>Annals and Magazine of Natural History.</em> (5) 20(117):153-165, pls IX-XII.
page(s): 155-156 [details]
page(s): 155-156 [details]
Lectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.3, geounit South India and Sri...
Lectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.3, geounit South India and Sri Lanka [details]
Distribution The title of the paper of Dendy (1887) is msleading, because the sponges described are from the Gulf of Manaar (see...
Homonymy The variety was described by Dendy as the third of three varieties of Suberites inconstans Dendy, 1887, all from the same...
Distribution The title of the paper of Dendy (1887) is msleading, because the sponges described are from the Gulf of Manaar (see Intropduction of Dendy, 1889), not from Madras (=Chennai). [details]
Homonymy The variety was described by Dendy as the third of three varieties of Suberites inconstans Dendy, 1887, all from the same...
Homonymy The variety was described by Dendy as the third of three varieties of Suberites inconstans Dendy, 1887, all from the same locality off Rameswaram Island, Gulf of Mannar, approximate coordinates 13.08°N 80.3°E (lectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.3 designated by Vosmaer (1911: 19), with paralectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.4 and an additional paralectotype in the Madras Museum, now Government Museum, Chennai). Dendy overlooked the presence of spirasters in his specimens, but Thiele (1900: 71, footnote) recognized this omission and transferred Dendy’s specimens to Spirastrella inconstans. Dendy’s first mentioned variety, Suberites inconstans var. globosa (q.v.) was indicated by Van Soest, 2024: 78) as the nominotypical variety and following the rules of the ICZN it should be renamed S. inconstans var. inconstans (ICZN art. 46-47). It was proposed by Van Soest to be merged with the second variety, S. inconstans var. maeandrina (q.v.) because the two are closely similar. However, even Vosmaer (1911) in his review of the genus Spirastrella where he proposed an unprecedented synonymization of 30 described species of Spirastrella into a single species, recognized that S. inconstans var. digitata differed considerably from the other two varieties in texture and skeletal arrangement. He assigned them to two different ‘tropi’ (a type of infraspecific taxon, seven of which were created by Vosmaer), tropus ‘tubulifera’ for the present variety and tropus ‘glaebosa’ for the varieties globosa and meandrina. Van Soest (l.c.) confirmed that the var. digitata appears different from the other two varieties and since all were from the same locality he proposed to give it the status of a valid species to be named Spheciospongia digitata (Dendy, 1887). There was already a different species named Spirastrella digitata Hentschel, 1909, which is also currently assigned to Spheciospongia. Thus, with the above proposed transfer Van Soest created a junior secondary homonym for Hentschel’s species (cf. ICZN art. 59.1), and accordingly he renamed this species Spheciospongia hentscheli nom.nov. to remove the homonymy. The taxonomy of the Indo-Pacific members of the genus Spheciospongia remains understudied and comparison of described species and subspecies is highly necessary. The present species appears similar to Spheciospongia vagabunda (Ridley, 1884 as Spirastrella) in shape and skeletal details as some authors pointed out in the past. For completeness sake, Van Soest (l.c.) mentioned that Burton (1959: 208), inspired by Vosmaer’s (1911) proposals, synonymized all the above and still following ‘Spirastrella’ species under a single species name, Spirastrella cuspidifera (Lamarck, 1815 as Alcyonium). Like Vosmaer’s proposals, this was not acknowledged by most of the contemporary and subsequent sponge taxonomists. Alcyonium cuspidifera is currently assigned to a separate genus Cervicornia Rützler & Hooper, 2000. [details]
de Voogd, N.J.; Alvarez, B.; Boury-Esnault, N.; Cárdenas, P.; Díaz, M.-C.; Dohrmann, M.; Downey, R.; Goodwin, C.; Hajdu, E.; Hooper, J.N.A.; Kelly, M.; Klautau, M.; Lim, S.C.; Manconi, R.; Morrow, C.; Pinheiro, U.; Pisera, A.B.; Ríos, P.; Rützler, K.; Schönberg, C.; Turner, T.; Vacelet, J.; van Soest, R.W.M.; Xavier, J. (2025). World Porifera Database. Suberites inconstans var. digitata Dendy, 1887. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=195701 on 2025-05-05
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Nomenclature
original description
Dendy, A. (1887). The Sponge-fauna of Madras. A Report on a Collection of Sponges obtained in the Neighbourhood of Madras by Edgar Thurston, Esq. <em>Annals and Magazine of Natural History.</em> (5) 20(117):153-165, pls IX-XII.
page(s): 155-156 [details]
basis of record Van Soest, R.W.M. (2024). Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 5398(1): 1-122., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5398.1.1
page(s): 77 [details] Available for editors
[request]
page(s): 155-156 [details]
basis of record Van Soest, R.W.M. (2024). Correcting sponge names: nomenclatural update of lower taxa level Porifera. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 5398(1): 1-122., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5398.1.1
page(s): 77 [details] Available for editors
[request]
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Lectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.3, geounit South India and Sri Lanka [details]
Paralectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.4, geounit South India and Sri Lanka [details]
From editor or global species database
Distribution The title of the paper of Dendy (1887) is msleading, because the sponges described are from the Gulf of Manaar (see Intropduction of Dendy, 1889), not from Madras (=Chennai). [details]Homonymy The variety was described by Dendy as the third of three varieties of Suberites inconstans Dendy, 1887, all from the same locality off Rameswaram Island, Gulf of Mannar, approximate coordinates 13.08°N 80.3°E (lectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.3 designated by Vosmaer (1911: 19), with paralectotype BMNH 1887.8.4.4 and an additional paralectotype in the Madras Museum, now Government Museum, Chennai). Dendy overlooked the presence of spirasters in his specimens, but Thiele (1900: 71, footnote) recognized this omission and transferred Dendy’s specimens to Spirastrella inconstans. Dendy’s first mentioned variety, Suberites inconstans var. globosa (q.v.) was indicated by Van Soest, 2024: 78) as the nominotypical variety and following the rules of the ICZN it should be renamed S. inconstans var. inconstans (ICZN art. 46-47). It was proposed by Van Soest to be merged with the second variety, S. inconstans var. maeandrina (q.v.) because the two are closely similar. However, even Vosmaer (1911) in his review of the genus Spirastrella where he proposed an unprecedented synonymization of 30 described species of Spirastrella into a single species, recognized that S. inconstans var. digitata differed considerably from the other two varieties in texture and skeletal arrangement. He assigned them to two different ‘tropi’ (a type of infraspecific taxon, seven of which were created by Vosmaer), tropus ‘tubulifera’ for the present variety and tropus ‘glaebosa’ for the varieties globosa and meandrina. Van Soest (l.c.) confirmed that the var. digitata appears different from the other two varieties and since all were from the same locality he proposed to give it the status of a valid species to be named Spheciospongia digitata (Dendy, 1887). There was already a different species named Spirastrella digitata Hentschel, 1909, which is also currently assigned to Spheciospongia. Thus, with the above proposed transfer Van Soest created a junior secondary homonym for Hentschel’s species (cf. ICZN art. 59.1), and accordingly he renamed this species Spheciospongia hentscheli nom.nov. to remove the homonymy. The taxonomy of the Indo-Pacific members of the genus Spheciospongia remains understudied and comparison of described species and subspecies is highly necessary. The present species appears similar to Spheciospongia vagabunda (Ridley, 1884 as Spirastrella) in shape and skeletal details as some authors pointed out in the past. For completeness sake, Van Soest (l.c.) mentioned that Burton (1959: 208), inspired by Vosmaer’s (1911) proposals, synonymized all the above and still following ‘Spirastrella’ species under a single species name, Spirastrella cuspidifera (Lamarck, 1815 as Alcyonium). Like Vosmaer’s proposals, this was not acknowledged by most of the contemporary and subsequent sponge taxonomists. Alcyonium cuspidifera is currently assigned to a separate genus Cervicornia Rützler & Hooper, 2000. [details]
