Scalarispongia viridis, Kim & Sim, 2020

Kim, Young A & Sim, Kyung Jin Lee and Chung Ja, 2020, Seven new species of two genera Scalarispongia and Smenospongia (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida: Thorectidae) from Korea, Journal of Species Research 9 (2), pp. 147-161 : 148

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.12651/JSR.2020.9.2.147
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03BF6E61-FFED-2C47-FF64-EE89FF606898
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Scalarispongia viridis
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

1. Scalarispongia viridis View in CoL n. sp. ( Fig. 1 View Fig )

ḵNjċflųğãḓậ (ljÿ)

Type specimen. Holotype (NIBRIV0000862768), Korea: Sinchang-ri, Hankyung-myeon, Jeju-si , Jeju-do, 19 Aug 2001, collected by K.J. Lee, intertidal zone, rocky substrate, deposited at NIBR.

Description. Thick encrusting sponge, size up to 15 × 7 × 1.5 cm. Surface smooth with regular skeletal fibres come out from near surface and covered with very thin pseudo-tertiary fibres like lace ( Fig. 1H View Fig ). Some part of matrix missing, the only remaining near skeletal fibres part. Oscules, 3 mm in diameter. Color in life, green. Texture soft and compressible.

Skeleton: Primary fibres, 50-80-100 μm in diameter, cored spicules and partly fasciculate. Secondary fibres, ladder-like at surface ( Fig. 1B, D, E View Fig ), 30 μm in diameter. Ladder-like skeletal structure can be observed throughout sponge body. Length of bridged secondary fibres between primary fibres at near conules, 200-1,000 μm (commonly 600-700 μm) ( Fig. 1G View Fig ). Usually, pseudo-tertiary fibres, 10-20 μm in diameter, occurred at side of sponge surface ( Fig. 1H View Fig ).

Etymology. The species name, viridis , is named after the sponge green color in life.

Remarks. This new species is very unique in skeletal structure. Fibres of this species have regular ladder-like pattern throughout the sponge body. The sponge has irregular pseudo-tertiary fibres at the surface. The length of bridged secondary fibres between primary fibres is very long.