Linckia rosenbergi Von Martens, a Synonym of L. laevigata (L.)

When Clark (1921) cleared the genus Linckia from superfluous synonyms, he could give no opinion on Linckia rosenbergi Von Martens 1866, p. 63 from Amboina. The unique holotype was in the Berlin Museum and hence not easily accessible to him, the species had not been described again. In his key Clark lays the stress on Von Martens' remark: "Die Porenfelder liegen zwischen den zwei Reihen grösserer Plättchen an der Armseite dicht aneinander, ohne alle Unterbrechung (wie bei Ophidiaster suturalis Müll. & Troschel), aber die Poren behalten dieselbe Anordnung in runde Gruppen (Felder) von circa 10 Poren bei". Clark interpreted this as follows: "Poriferous areas between superomarginals and inferomarginals in an unbroken, continuous series, more or less circular, each with about 10 pores". In the Leiden Museum I found an animal, that aroused my curiosity: it was a common L. laevigata, labelled L. rosenbergi from Amboina. As this Museum possesses many animals collected by Von Rosenberg (cf. A. Gijzen, 's Rijks Museum van Natuurlijke Historie 1820-1915, Dissertation, Leiden, 1938), it is possible, that it is a topotype. It conformed rather well with Von Martens' description, showing R till 38 mm, r 6 1/2 mm, br. 7 mm, so R = 5br and 6r. There are in the armcorners 5 rows of ventrals, 2 of which only continue along nearly the whole arm. The proximal third of the arm shows on the dorsal side the rather distinct area free of pores, formed by a more or less regular median row of plates. The whole in short, is a typical, beautiful and regular L. laevigata. Yet it is impossible to give any important difference from the description of L. rosenbergi The only way to solve the problem was the study of the type specimen. Professor Arndt of the Berlin Museum was so kind to send me the type