Timea crassa sensu Levi 1952

Timea crassa sensu Lévi, 1952

(Fig. 8J)

Timea crassa; sensu Lévi, 1952: 46, fig. 10.

Not: Topsent 1900: 120.

I list here a complicated case (see also below under Timea hallezi var. crassa), based on a mistake made by Lévi (1952: 44–46) on Timea material from Senegal. He described T. crassa as similar to the species described by Topsent (1925b), but Topsent based his name on the original combination Hymedesmia hallezi var. crassa Topsent, 1900. This taxon was later elevated by Topsent (1925b: 6) to species rank as Timea crassa with several slight differentiations. The improved description was not based on the type material from the Channel area, but on new specimens collected in the Étang de Thau, an inland lake branched off from the Mediterranean. Apart from differentiated small spicules (interpreted as ‘juvenile’) and large asters, he also noted that the tylostyles of the type were more robust, than those of the Mediterranean specimens. Lévi (1952) not only described Senegalese material from Baie de Hannan, 14.7167°N 17.4297°W, depth 17–18 m, as T. crassa, but also described an apparently different Timea taxon as T. hallezi var. crassa from Pointe Bernard, Dakar, Senegal (14.6541°N 17,43°W, no depth provided) as if that would be different from T. crassa. Nomenclaturally, Timea hallezi var. crassa sensu Lévi, 1952 (cf. below) must be called T. crassa (Topsent, 1900), and the present T. crassa sensu Lévi, 1952 must have a new name. I propose Timea levii nom.nov. to replace the present combination. Type material has not been ascertained, but it should be in MNHN; type locality is Baie de Hannan, Senegal.