Stylocordyla borealis var. irregularis Hentschel, 1914

Stylocordyla borealis var. irregularis Hentschel, 1914 View in CoL

( Fig. 9E View FIGURE 9 )

Stylocordyla borealis var. irregularis Hentschel, 1914: 55 View in CoL , pl. IV fig. 2.

The variety was described by Hentschel from Gauss Station, 66.0358°S 89.6333°E, depth 385 m (holotype ZMB 4840). It has the shape and skeletal structure of the North Atlantic species Stylocordyla borealis View in CoL ( Loven, 1868 as Hyalonema ) (for locality and type data cf. above S. borealis var. acuata View in CoL ), but the ectosomal palisade consists of three types of spicules, microxeas, microstyles and curved microstrongyles. It appears only a minor difference, which remains to be further confirmed as more than spicular variation. For the time being I propose to recognize the variety as an Antarctic subspecies of the predominantly Arctic-boreal S. borealis View in CoL , to be named Stylocordyla borealis subsp. irregularis Hentschel, 1914 View in CoL , and the Arctic-boreal subspecies to be named S. borealis subsp. borealis ( Loven, 1868) View in CoL (with junior synonym S. borealis subsp. typica Burton, 1934c View in CoL , a.o. from Jackson Island, East Greenland, 73.9°N 20°W). Bergquist’s (1972: 130) record of S. borealis View in CoL likely belongs to the present subspecies.