Ephydatia facunda Weltner, 1895

Manconi, R. & Pronzato, R., 2005, Freshwater sponges of the West Indies: Discovery of Spongillidae (Haplosclerida, Spongillina) from Cuba with biogeographic notes and a checklist for the Caribbean area, Journal of Natural History 39 (36), pp. 3235-3253 : 3243-3247

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930500307327
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039187A4-FF92-503D-1287-FF18AA36FB61
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Ephydatia facunda Weltner, 1895
status

Treatment

Ephydatia facunda Weltner, 1895 View in CoL

( Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 3 View Figure 3 )

Ephydatia facunda Weltner 1895, p 140 View in CoL ; Manconi and Pronzato 2002, p 938; see synonymies in Pinheiro et al. 2004, p 2.

Material examined

Six specimens, labelled DTRGFW600, Rio Ariguanabo , Las Yagrumas near San Antonio de Los Baños, west Cuba, 11 December 2000, R. Manconi leg. ; 10 small specimens, labelled DTRGFW602, Rio San Juan , Los Baños, Sierra del Rosario, west Cuba, 14 December 2000, Luca Pronzato leg.

Description

Encrusting sponges of irregular shape, from 0.4 to 3 cm in diameter, 2–4 mm thick. Colour whitish-greenish to light brown. Surface hispidation is evident in dry specimens. Oscules not conspicuous. Ectosomal skeleton as spicules emerging from the dermal membrane. Choanosomal skeleton irregularly reticulated, isotropic, paucispicular.

Megascleres oxeas (DTRGFW600: 2322316×7214 Mm; DTRGFW602: 2052 363×729 Mm) straight to bent, from entirely smooth to spiny except at the sharply pointed tips ( Figure 3I View Figure 3 ). Rare oxeas are densely spined. Microscleres absent. Gemmules whitish, subspherical (DTRGFW600: 185–280 Mm; DTRGFW602: 200–278 Mm in diameter) ( Figure 3A–C View Figure 3 ) at the sponge basis not adhering at the thin basal spongin plate. Foramen simple without collar, not surpassing the outer layer. Gemmular theca trilayered (DTRGFW600: 31–35 Mm; DTRGFW602: 25–44 Mm in thickness) ( Figure 3D, E View Figure 3 ) with gemmuloscleres in a single radial layer from densely to sparsely arranged ( Figure 3D, E View Figure 3 ), and bearing distal rotules from entirely to partially embedded in the outer layer of spongin ( Figure 3F–H View Figure 3 ). Outer layer well developed. Pneumatic layer with rounded chambers in both studied specimens ( Figure 3D, E View Figure 3 ). Inner layer of compact multilayered spongin. Gemmuloscleres birotules (DTRGFW600 and DTRGFW602: 23251×427 Mm), with smooth shaft or bearing one or two acute long spines ( Figure 3J View Figure 3 ). Rotules are plates and of constant size (DTRGFW600 and DTRGFW602: 19–25 Mm) with a granulated outer surface, a conspicuous central umbone, and margins deeply indented with 15–20 rays ( Figure 3K View Figure 3 ).

Remarks

These Cuban sponges clearly differ from E. millsi (Potts, 1888) for the shape of gemmular birotules and size of megascleres. As for E. subtilis , recorded as a new species but not described by Weltner (1895), Harrison (1979) reports that its ‘‘taxonomic status remains undetermined’’ because despite extensive collecting in the type locality (Lake Kissimee, Florida) the species was not found. The examined material from Cuba shares with E. facunda the general morphology, size of skeletal and gemmular elements, and the variable trait ‘‘outer layer with embedded or free distal rotules in the gemmular theca’’; it differs however for the size of megascleres when compared to the recent description by Pinheiro et al. (2004). E. facunda was considered a synonym of E. fluviatilis ramsayi by Ezcurra de Drago (1975), and re-evaluated as a valid species by De Rosa Barbosa (1979) and Pinheiro et al. (2004). As for the freshwater sponges ascribed to Ephydatia fluviatilis from the Island of St John ( Virgin Islands), it clearly appears from SEM micrographs by Smith (1994) that gemmules are characterized by the trait ‘‘pneumatic layer as a network of spongin fibres’’ deeply diverging from the typical gemmular architecture of E. fluviatilis characterized by a ‘‘pneumatic layer of chambered spongin’’. A comparative analysis of distant populations of E. fluviatilis is at present in progress by morphological and molecular approaches to clarify its problematic cosmopolitanism with a disjunct geographic range.

Habitat

In the Rio Ariguanabo under boulders near the embarcadero in shaded shallow brownyellowish waters with a high content of minerals, ca 20–40 cm of depth. The Rio Ariguanabo in this karstic area runs, with a wide wet bed (10–15 m wide), under tunnelshaped vegetation and becomes subterranean below this site. In the Rio San Juan of the Sierra del Rosario sponges were settled under boulders and pebbles in running clear shallow waters with high mineral content, ca 10–20 cm of depth, in a habitat shaded by a tunnel vegetation. Sponges were associated with statoblasts of an unidentified bryozoan.

Geographic distribution

The presence of E. facunda in western Cuba fits well the distribution of the cosmopolitan genus Ephydatia in the pan-Caribbean area with E. fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1759) recorded in Florida, Mexico, El Salvador, and the Virgin Islands, and E. millsi and E. subtilis in Florida ( Tables I, II). Ephydatia facunda is endemic to the Neotropical region and recorded till now exclusively from Brazil ( Pinheiro et al. 2004). The present record extends the geographic range of the species to the Caribbean area.

Radiospongilla Penney and Racek, 1968 View in CoL

Radiospongilla crateriformis ( Potts, 1882) View in CoL

( Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 4 View Figure 4 ) Meyenia crateriformis Potts 1882, p 12 ; 1887 p. 228; Radiospongilla crateriformis View in CoL see synonymies in Penney and Racek 1968, p 66; Ezcurra de Drago 1975, p 180; Bass and

Volkmer-Ribeiro 1998, p 124; Manconi and Pronzato 2002, p 956.

Material examined

Ten very small specimens labelled DTRGFW603, Orto Botanico Nacional, La Habana, west Cuba, 16 December 2000, R. Manconi leg.

Description

Encrusting irregular sponges 2 cm in diameter, 2–3 mm thick. Colour whitish. Oscules not conspicuous. Surface hispid. Ectosomal skeleton as spicule tufts emerging from the dermal membrane. Choanosomal skeleton irregularly reticulated isotropic, paucispicular. Megascleres oxeas (2092321×8210 Mm) straight to slightly bent, smooth in the middle and with small spines at the sharply pointed tips ( Figure 4E, J View Figure 4 ). Microscleres spiny strongyles to oxeas (75285×2.525 Mm) ( Figure 4F, G, K View Figure 4 ). Gemmules abundant and grouped at the sponge basal area, not adhering at the basal spongin plate. Gemmular shape from subspherical (400 Mm) to oval (320×400 Mm) ( Figure 4A, B View Figure 4 ). Colour of gemmules white to dark grey according to the absence/presence of the outer layer in the theca ( Figure 4B View Figure 4 ). Foramen tubular without collar but at the middle of a crater-like depressed area. Gemmular theca trilayered (78–83 Mm in thickness) with radially and densely arranged gemmuloscleres ( Figure 4C, D View Figure 4 ). Outer layer from well developed to absent; when present it bears emerging distal rotules from the outer layer. Pneumatic layer as a weakly developed network of very fine spongin fibres ( Figure 4C View Figure 4 ). Inner layer of sublayered compact spongin. Gemmuloscleres (63–79 Mm in length) straight or slightly bent are pseudobirotules to strongyles frequently bearing an apical acute spine surrounded by a crown of a few bent spines (hooks); pseudo-rotules (5.4–11.5 Mm in diameter); shaft with several acute spines ( Figure 4H, I View Figure 4 ).

Remarks

All morphological traits and size of spicules match well those described by several authors for this widespread species and particularly spicular sizes from Barbados and Nevis Islands by Bass and Volkmer-Ribeiro (1998).

Habitat

Small sponges settled under boulders in standing quite brown shallow waters ca 15 cm of depth in a small pool near the greenhouses. This finding confirms stagnant turbid waters as the preferred habitat of this species ( Harrison 1974).

Geographic distribution

The widespread genus Radiospongilla is represented in the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions by R. crateriformis and R. amazonensis Volkmer-Ribeiro and Maciel, 1983 . This second finding of R. crateriformis in the West Indies, after that in Barbados and Nevis Islands by Bass and Volkmer-Ribeiro (1998), fits well the geographic range in Surinam, Yucatan, Mexico, and USA ( Old 1932, 1936; Arndt 1933; Ezcurra de Drago 1975) ( Tables I, II). On the other hand, this species shows a widely disjunct distribution and it is reported also from China, Philippines, Japan, and southern Asia ( Penney and Racek 1968; Manconi and Pronzato 2002). The finding of the species exclusively in the Orto Botanico Nacional of Cuba suggests, however, the possibility of an accidental introduction.