Spheciospongia ndabazithe Samaai, Pillay & Janson, 2019

Fig. 16

Spheciospongia ndabazithe Samaai, Pillay & Janson, 2019: 19, fig. 6a–g.

Material examined

PONTA DO OURO • 1 portion of 7×3 × 1 cm; 26°46′38.829″ S, 32°54′17.384″ E; Waynes; 40.6 m deep; 17 Feb. 2017; Cerrano leg.; PO52 .

Description

Massive sponge (Fig. 16 A–B), cup-shaped, light beige in the external and darker in the internal side. The alcohol preserved fragment is hard and incompressible, with a grey surface and a compact darker body.

SKELETON. Ectosome and choanosome confused, rich in sediments.

SPICULES. Slim tylostyles sometimes curved towards the pointed tip (Fig. 16C), 250–(332)–410 μm×4– (7.3)–10 μm wide; sometimes they are modified in curved styles with acerate tips (Fig. 16C); spirasters variable in shapes (Fig. 16D) with an average length of 12.5 μm: C-shaped with many spines along the convex side, straight and smooth with groups of spines at the extremities and longer, S-shaped spirasters with spines scattered along the axis.

Remarks

Our specimen perfectly fits the species recently described from South Africa by Samaai et al. (2019), with the exception of a larger variety of spirasters present in the specimen from Punta do Ouro.