Mycale (Mycale?) multisclera Pulitzer-Finali, 1993, 1867

Van, Rob W. M., Aryasari, Ratih & De, Nicole J., 2021, Mycale species of the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida), Zootaxa 4912 (1), pp. 1-212 : 143

Mycale (Mycale?) multisclera Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 (incertae sedis)

Mycale multisclera Pulitzer-Finali, 1993: 290 (no illustrations).

Summary description. Membership of the subgenus Mycale (Mycale) is by no means certain, and based solely on the diversity of microscleres and lack of positive information on the ectosomal skeleton. Only known from dried fragments of a sponge indicated as ‘grey’ in life. No further details of habitus or consistency. Spicules: mycalostyles apparently quite variable in shape and size with styles, subtylostyles and strongyles of 180–310 x 3–8 µm, anisochelae I 37–47 µm, anisochelae II 17–20 µm, sigmas 80–90 µm, toxas 60–300 µm, raphides 150 µm.

Distribution. Mombasa, Kenya, shallow water.

Comment. The spicule complement resembles that of Mycale macilenta var. australis Hentschel, 1911 (see above as M. (M.) ernsthentscheli Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 comb.nov.), and it is possible that the two are conspecific. However, the description is inadequate for proper evalution of its identity vis-à-vis other species of the region. We consider this Mycale incertae sedis until redescription will have provided clarity over its skeletal properties.