Gellius glacialis var. nivea Ridley & Dendy 1886

Gellius glacialis var. nivea Ridley & Dendy, 1886

(Fig. 3J)

Gellius glacialis var. nivea Ridley & Dendy, 1886: 42, pl. VIII fig. 8, pl. XIII figs. 4, 12; Kirkpatrick 1908: 49, pl. XVII fig. 4; Hentschel 1914: 130.

The variety was described by Ridley & Dendy from Prince Edward Island, 46.8833°S 38.075 °E, depth 256 m (wet holotype BMNH 1887.5.2.277). It was stated to be different from the typical variety described by the same authors from the Agulhas Bank (35.0667°S 18.6167°E, depth 274 m, wet holotype BMNH 1887.5.2.257) in the delicate unispicular skeleton with spongin at the nodes vs. more confused skeleton lacking nodal spongin on the typical variety, and the size of the sigmas (70 vs. 145 µm, although in both descriptions it was admitted that many smaller ones were also present). The variety was also reported from Antarctica (Kirkpatrick 1908; Hentschel 1914), which showed intermediate sizes of the spicules between the present and the typical variety. Bergquist & Warne (1980: 23) reassigned a specimen identified from New Zealand as Gellius glacialis to Sigmadocia De Laubenfels, 1936 and included the present variety in its synonymy. In view of the variable sigma sizes and the rather nearby type localities it is here tentatively suggested that the varieties could be conspecific and for the time being I propose to merge the varieties into a single - apparently widespread - species Haliclona (Gellius) glacialis (Ridley & Dendy, 1886).