EDIT

              // map.setLayerZIndex(wmsOverlay, 100);

            console.log("creating data layer of type " + dataType);

            var dataLayerOptions = {

                    isBaseLayer: false,

                    displayInLayerSwitcher: true,

                    maxExtent: map.maxExtent.clone().transform(new OpenLayers.Projection("EPSG:4326"), map.baseLayer.projection),

                    displayOutsideMaxExtent: true

            };

            var layers = [];

            // add additional layers, get them from the mapResponseObj

            if(mapResponseObj !== undefined){

                if(dataType == "POINT" && mapResponseObj.points_sld !== undefined){

                  var pointLayer;

                  // it is a response for an point map

                  var geoserverUri;

                  if(mapResponseObj.geoserver) {

                      geoserverUri = mapResponseObj.geoserver;

                  } else {

                      // it is an old service which is not providing the corresponding geoserver URI, so we guess it

                      geoserverUri = mapserverBaseUrl + "/geoserver/wms";

                  }

                  //TODO points_sld should be renamed to sld in response + fill path to sld should be given

                  pointLayer = new OpenLayers.Layer.WMS(

                          'points',

                          geoserverUri,

                          {

                              layers: 'topp:rest_points',

                              transparent:"true",

                              format:"image/png"

                          },

                          dataLayerOptions

                  );

                  var sld = mapResponseObj.points_sld;

                  if(sld.indexOf("http://") !== 0){

                      // it is an old servive which is not providing the full sdl URI, so we guess it

                      //  http://edit.africamuseum.be/synthesys/www/v1/sld/

                      //  http://edit.br.fgov.be/synthesys/www/v1/sld/

                      sld =  mapserverBaseUrl + "/synthesys/www/v1/sld/" + sld;

                  }

                  pointLayer.params.SLD = sld;

                  layers.push(pointLayer);

                } else {

                    // it is a response from for a distribution map

                    console.log("start with adding distribution layers :");

                    for ( var i in mapResponseObj.layers) {

                        var layerData = mapResponseObj.layers[i];

                        console.log(" " + i +" -> " + layerData.tdwg);

                        var layer = new OpenLayers.Layer.WMS(

                                layerData.tdwg,

                                mapResponseObj.geoserver + "/wms",

                                {

                                    layers: layerByNameMap[layerData.tdwg],

                                    transparent:"true",

                                    format:"image/png"

                                },

                                dataLayerOptions

                                );

                        layer.params.SLD = layerData.sld;

                        layer.setOpacity(opts.distributionOpacity);

                        layers.push(layer);

                    }

                }

                if(layers.length > 0) {

                  // calculate zoomBounds using the first layer

                  if(mapResponseObj.bbox !== undefined){

                    // mapResponseObj.bbox are bounds for the projection of the specific layer

                    var newBounds =  OpenLayers.Bounds.fromString( mapResponseObj.bbox );

                    newBounds.transform(layers[0].projection, map.getProjectionObject());

                    if(dataBounds !== null){

                      dataBounds.extend(newBounds);

                    } else if(newBounds !== undefined){

                      dataBounds = newBounds;

                    }

                    zoomToBounds = dataBounds;

                    console.log("data layer zoomToBounds: " + zoomToBounds);

                    zoomToClosestLevel = false;

                  }

                if(legendImgSrc != null && opts.legendPosition !== undefined && mapResponseObj.legend !== undefined){

                    var legendSrcUrl = mapResponseObj.geoserver + legendImgSrc + mapResponseObj.legend;

                    addLegendAsElement(legendSrcUrl);

                    //addLegendAsLayer(legendSrcUrl, map);

                }

                return layers;

        var log = function(message, addTimeStamp){

          var timestamp = '';

          if(addTimeStamp == true){

            var time = new Date();

            timestamp = time.getSeconds() + '.' + time.getMilliseconds() + 's';

          }

          console.log(timestamp + message);

        /**

         * Creates a WMS Base layer

         * @param String name

         *     A name for the layer

         * @param String url

         *     Base url for the WMS (e.g.  http://wms.jpl.nasa.gov/wms.cgi)

         * @param Object params

         *     An object with key/value pairs representing the GetMap query string parameters and parameter values.

         * @param Object projection

         *    A OpenLayers.Projection object

         */

        var createWMSLayer= function(name, url, params, projection, proj4js_def, units, maxExtent){

            console.log("creating WMS Layer " + name);

            if(projection && proj4js_def){

                // in case projection has been defined for the layer and if there is also

                // a Proj4js.defs, add it!

                Proj4js.defs[projection] = proj4js_def;

            }

            if(maxExtent === null){

                maxExtent = CdmOpenLayers.mapExtends.epsg_4326.clone();

                maxExtent.transform(CdmOpenLayers.projections.epsg_4326, projection);

            }

          wmsLayer = new OpenLayers.Layer.WMS(

            {

              maxExtent: maxExtent,

              projection: projection,

              units: units,

              isBaseLayer: false,

              displayInLayerSwitcher: true

            }