Mycale species of the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) Author Van, Rob W. M. Author Aryasari, Ratih Author De, Nicole J. 0000-0002-7985-5604 rob.vansoest@naturalis.nl text Zootaxa 2021 2021-01-19 4912 1 1 212 journal article 8641 10.11646/zootaxa.4912.1.1 8a5efe86-cabc-4981-afb4-163791f2530c 1175-5326 4450930 9536C1CF-4AEF-47F8-959B-48CD7A5392D8 Mycale (Mycale) ernsthentscheli Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 comb.nov. Mycale macilenta var. australis Hentschel. 1911: 296 , fig. 6a–d. Mycale hentscheli Hooper in Hooper & Wiedenmayer, 1994: 288 . Mycale (Carmia) hentscheli ; Calcinai et al. 2013: 42 , figs 26G–N. Mycale (Carmia) ernsthentscheli Van Soest & Hooper, 2020: 33 . Summary description . Encrusting, two specimens, but no further details on the habitus. Ectosomal skeleton a dense tangential layer of megascleres carried by choanosomal megsclere tracts that fan out beneath the surface. Rosettes of anisochelae I present. Spicules mycalostyles 232–306 x 3–4 µm , anisochelae I 32–41 µm , anisochelae II 12–20 µm , sigmas I 67–105 µm , sigmas II 17–30 µm (reported subsequently by Calcinai et al. 2013 ), toxas I 80–230 µm , toxas II present but no size given (toxas respectively 190–270 µm (I) and 47–115 µm (II) reported subsequently by Calcinai et al . 2013 ), micracanthoxeas 4 µm (subsequently reported by Calcinai et al. 2013 ). Distribution . Shark Bay, Western Australia , 7–12 m depth, on coral reefs. Comments . Calcinai et al. 2013 re-examined the type ZMB 4402 and found that Hentschel’s description of the spicules omitted to report small sigmas and micracanthoxeas. Remarkably, Calcinai et al. assigned the species to subgenus Carmia , but discussed it in their remarks on Mycale (Aegogropila) furcata . They gave no reason for the assignment to Carmia , but presumably this was caused by the fact that Mycale macilenta , of which this species originally was assigned to as a variety, is the type species of Carmia . The description by Hentschel of a dense tangential layer of megascleres in his specimens leaves little doubt that this species is not a member of Carmia . A possible senior synonym is Mycale multisclera Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 (cf. below), but this remains uncertain as the description of that species is inadequate. Hooper in Hooper & Wiedenmayer (1994: 288) proposed a new name Mycale hentscheli for Mycale macilenta australis Hentschel, 1911 from Shark Bay, Western Australia , because the subspecific name australis was already in use for Mycale (Grapelia) australis (Gray, 1866) . However, when Carmia hentscheli Bergquist & Fromont, 1988 was transferred to Mycale the name became a senior secondary homonym of Hooper’s name. ICZN Art. 57.3 required a new name to remove the homonymy, which was proposed recently as M. (C.) ernsthentscheli Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 . We now believe this needs to be transferred to subgenus Mycale .